T.L. Morrisey

Showing posts with label Russia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Russia. Show all posts

Monday, July 15, 2024

"I taught myself to live simply" by Anna Akhmatova

 

2022

I taught myself to live simply and wisely,
to look at the sky and pray to God,
and to wander long before evening
to tire my superfluous worries.
When the burdocks rustle in the ravine
and the yellow-red rowanberry cluster droops
I compose happy verses
about life's decay, decay and beauty.
I come back. The fluffy cat
licks my palm, purrs so sweetly
and the fire flares bright
on the saw-mill turret by the lake.
Only the cry of a stork landing on the roof
occasionally breaks the silence.
If you knock on my door
I may not even hear.


Wednesday, September 20, 2023

Untitled Poem, -- to Natalya Rykova by Anna Akhmatova

 

Anna Akhmatova



Everything has been plundered, betrayed, sold out,

The wing of black death has flashed,

Everything has been devoured by starving anguish,

Why, then, is it so bright?


The fantastic woods near the town

Wafts the scent of cherry blossoms by day,

At night new constellations shine

In the transparent depths of the skies of July --


And how near the miraculous draws

To the dirty, tumbledown huts . . .  

No one, no one knows what it is,

But for centuries we have longed for it. 


June 1921