I hid my heart from you…
I hid my heart from you
as if I had gone and drowned it in the Neva.
Now, tamed, my wings clipped,
I live here in your home.
Only... at night, strange sounds.
What can they be, under the darkness?
Lindens in the Palace gardens...
The hushed notes of the house ghosts...
The soft black whisper of disaster,
cautiously, like rising water,
draws close to my ear
and murmurs - it is a messenger -
You wanted comfort,
now where is your comfort?
1936
as if I had gone and drowned it in the Neva.
Now, tamed, my wings clipped,
I live here in your home.
Only... at night, strange sounds.
What can they be, under the darkness?
Lindens in the Palace gardens...
The hushed notes of the house ghosts...
The soft black whisper of disaster,
cautiously, like rising water,
draws close to my ear
and murmurs - it is a messenger -
You wanted comfort,
now where is your comfort?
1936
poetrymagazines notes: Anna Akhmatova's Russian texts copyright © 2005 by Margarita Novgorodova. The rights are granted by FTM Agency, Ltd., Russia
Translated by Colette Bryce
Page(s) 17
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