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larryhammerFor Poetry Monday:
The Muse, Anna Akhmatova, tr. Stanley Burnshaw
When in the night I await her coming,
My life seems stopped. I ask myself: What
Are tributes, freedom, or youth compared
To this treasured friend holding a flute?
Look, she’s coming! She throws off her veil
And watches me, steady and long. I say:
“Was it you who dictated to Dante the pages
Of Hell?” And she answers: “I am the one.”
Akhmatova (1889-1966) was a foundational poet of Russian Modernism, who spent much of her career wrestling with Stalinism. The original as well as a French version can be found here.
---L.
Subject quote from Grief, Elizabeth Barrett Browning.
The Muse, Anna Akhmatova, tr. Stanley Burnshaw
When in the night I await her coming,
My life seems stopped. I ask myself: What
Are tributes, freedom, or youth compared
To this treasured friend holding a flute?
Look, she’s coming! She throws off her veil
And watches me, steady and long. I say:
“Was it you who dictated to Dante the pages
Of Hell?” And she answers: “I am the one.”
Akhmatova (1889-1966) was a foundational poet of Russian Modernism, who spent much of her career wrestling with Stalinism. The original as well as a French version can be found here.
---L.
Subject quote from Grief, Elizabeth Barrett Browning.