Category: Anna Akhmatova

Celebrate our anniversary – can’t you see tonight the snowy night of our first winter comes back again in every road and tree – that…

Anna Andreyevna Akhmatova was born Anna Gorenko into an upper-class family in Odessa, the Ukraine, in 1889. Her interest in poetry began in her youth,…

A land not mine, still forever memorable, the waters of its ocean chill and fresh. Sand on the bottom whiter than chalk, and the air…

Everything is plundered, betrayed, sold, Death’s great black wing scrapes the air, Misery gnaws to the bone. Why then do we not despair? By day,…

Everything is plundered, betrayed, sold, Death’s great black wing scrapes the air, Misery gnaws to the bone. Why then do we not despair? By day,…

I’ve learned to live simply, wisely, To look at the sky and pray to God, And to take long walks before evening To wear out…

I Have No Use For Odic Legions – Anna Akhmatova I have no use for odic legions, Or for the charm of elegiac play For…

This Evening’s Light Is Golden Bright – Anna Akhmatova This evening’s light is golden bright, The April’s coolness is so tender, Though you are many…

A widow in black – Anna Akhmatova Covers all hearts with a depressing cloud… While her man’s words are clearly recalled, She will not stop…

Lying in me – Anna Akhmatova Lying in me, as though it were a white Stone in the depths of a well, is one Memory…

The Last Toast – Anna Akhmatova I drink to home, that is lost, To evil life of mine, To loneness in which we’re both, And…

Here is my gift – Anna Akhmatova Here is my gift, not roses on your grave, not sticks of burning incense. You lived aloof, maintaining…

Reading ‘Hamlet’ – Anna Akhmatova 1 The lot by the graves was a dusty hot land; The river behind — blue and cool. You told…

They Didn’t Meet – Anna Akhmatova They didn’t meet me, roamed, On steps with lanterns bright. I entered quiet home In murky, pail moonlight. Under…

I Hear the Oriole’s Always-Grieving Voice – Anna Akhmatova I hear the oriole’s always-grieving voice, And the rich summer’s welcome loss I hear In the…

The Two Of Us Won’t Share A Glass Together – Anna Akhmatova The two of us won’t share a glass together Be it of water…

Shade – Anna Akhmatova ‘What does a certain woman know of the hour of her death?’ – Mandelstam Tallest, suavest of us, why Memory, forcing…

Memory of Sun – Anna Akhmatova Memory of sun seeps from the heart. Grass grows yellower. Faintly if at all the early snowflakes Hover, hover….

If the Moon on the skies Does not Roam – Anna Akhmatova If the moon on the skies does not roam, But cools, like a…

Here Pushkin’s Endless Exile Has Begun – Anna Akhmatova Here Pushkin’s endless exile has begun, And Lermontov’s exile turned out fatal, The mountain grass has…

You’ll live, but I’ll not; perhaps You’ll live, but I’ll not; perhaps, The final turn is that. Oh, how strongly grabs us The secret plot…

Why Is This Age Worse – Anna Akhmatova Why is this age worse than earlier ages? In a stupor of grief and dread have we…

I Saw My Friend At The Front Door – Anna Akhmatova I saw my friend to the front door I stood in the golden dust….

To Boris Pasternak – Anna Akhmatova It ceased – the voice, inimitable here, The peer of groves left forever us, He changed himself into eternal…

Along the hard crust of deep snows -Anna Akhmatova Along the hard crust of deep snows, To the secret, white house of yours, So gentle…

Now no-one will be listening to songs – Anna Akhmatova Now no-one will be listening to songs. The days long prophesied have come to pass….

Crucifix – Anna Akhmatova Do not cry for me, Mother, seeing me in the grave. I This greatest hour was hallowed and thandered By angel’s…

How can you bear to look at the Neva? – Anna Akhmatova How can you bear to look at the Neva? How can you bear…

You, Who was Born for Poetry’s Creation You, who was born for poetry’s creation, Do not repeat the sayings of the ancients. Though, maybe, our…

In Human Closeness there is a Secret Edge – Anna Akhmatova In human closeness there is a secret edge, Nor love nor passion can pass…

In Memory of M.B. – Anna Akhmatova Here is my gift, not roses on your grave, not sticks of burning incense. You lived aloof, maintaining…

There are the words that couldn’t be twice said – Anna Akhmatova There are the words that couldn’t be twice said, He, who said once,…

And as it’s Going – Anna Akhmatova And as it’s going often at love’s breaking, The ghost of first days came again to us, The…

Music – Anna Akhmatova Something of heavens ever burns in it, I like to watch its wondrous facets’ growth. It speaks with me in fate’s…

Twenty-First. Night. Monday – Anna Akhmatova Twenty-first. Night. Monday. Silhouette of the capitol in darkness. Some good-for-nothing — who knows why– made up the tale…

He Did Love – Anna Akhmatova He did love three things in this world: Choir chants at vespers, albino peacocks, And worn, weathered maps of…

White Night – Anna Akhmatova I haven’t locked the door, Nor lit the candles, You don’t know, don’t care, That tired I haven’t the strength…

Thoughts Of The Sunlight – Anna Akhmatova Thoughts of the sunlight fainter and dimmer, And parched the grass. Breezes, freh breezes at dawn’s early shimmer,…

In Dream – Anna Akhmatova Black and enduring separation I share equally with you. Why weep? Give me your hand, Promise me you will come…

The Sentence – Anna Akhmatova And the stone word fell On my still-living breast. Never mind, I was ready. I will manage somehow. Today I…

And you, my friends who have been called away – Anna Akhmatova And you, my friends who have been called away, I have been spared…

My Way – Anna Akhmatova One goes in straightforward ways, One in a circle roams: Waits for a girl of his gone days, Or for…

True Tenderness – Anna Akhmatova True tenderness is silent and can’t be mistaken for anything else. In vain with earnest desire you cover my shoulders…

Greetings! – Anna Akhmatova Do you hear the soft rustle beside your table? Don’t bother to write for I’ll come to you. Is it possible…

Under Her Dark Veil – Anna Akhmatova Under her dark veil she wrung her hands. “Why are you so pale today?” “Because I made him…

Lot’s Wife – Anna Akhmatova And the just man trailed God’s shining agent, over a black mountain, in his giant track, while a restless voice…

Sunbeam – Anna Akhmatova I pray to the sunbeam from the window – It is pale, thin, straight. Since morning I have been silent, And…

Departure By Anna Akhmatova Although this land is not my own, I will remember its inland sea and the waters that are so cold the…

My hands clasped under a veil – Anna Akhmatova My hands clasped under a veil, dim and hazy… ‘Why are you so pale and upset?’…

Sunshine Has Filled The Room – Anna Akhmatova Sunshine has filled the room with clear golden specks of dust. I woke up and remembered, dear,…

How Many Demands – Anna Akhmatova How many demands the beloved can make! The woman discarded, none. How glad I am that today the water…

To Fall Ill as One Should, Deliriously – Anna Akhmatova To fall ill as one should, deliriously Hot, meet everyone again, To stroll broad avenues…

In The Evening – Anna Akhmatova The garden rang with music Of inexpressible despair. A dish of oysters spread on ice Smelled like the ocean,…

The Victory – Anna Akhmatova 2 Over a pier, the first beacon inflamed — The vanguard of other sea-rangers; The mariner cried and bared his…

Everything – Anna Akhmatova Everything’s looted, betrayed and traded, black death’s wing’s overhead. Everything’s eaten by hunger, unsated, so why does a light shine ahead?…

Our Native Earth – Anna Akhmatova We do not carry it in lockets on the breast, And do not cry about it in poems, It…

The Pillow Hot – Anna Akhmatova The pillow hot On both sides, The second candle Dying, the ravens Crying. Haven’t Slept all night, too late…