At The Edge

‘Prologue’ by Anna Akhmatova That was when the ones who smiled Were the dead, glad to be at rest. And like a useless appendage, Leningrad Swung from its prisons. And when, senseless from torment, Regiments of convicts marched, And the short songs of farewell Were sung by locomotive whistles. The stars of death stood above us And innocent Ruissia writhed Under bloody boots And under the tires of the Black Marias. -From the collection Requiem (published in 1963 in Munich) ---------------------------------- ‘Inscription on a Book’ by Anna Akhmatova From beneath such ruins I speak, From beneath such an avalanche I cry, As if under the vault of a fetid celler I were burning in quicklime. I will pretend to ne soundless this winter And I will slam the eternal doors forever, And even so, they will recognize my voice, And even so they will believe in it once more. -Written by Anna Akhmatova in Leningrad in 1959. Also read, 'In Memoriam, July 19, 19...

And when we had cursed each other, Passionate, white hot, We still didn’t understand How small the earth can be for two people, And that memory can torment savagely. The anguish of the strong — a wasting disease! And in the endless night the heart learns To ask: Oh, where is my departed lover? And when, through waves of incense, The choir thunders, exulting and threatening, Those same eyes, inescapable, Stare sternly and stubbornly into the soul. -From her first collection Evening (1912) Also, read her poem 'In Memoriam, July 19, 1914' from her third collection, White Flock(1917)

We aged a hundred years, and this Happened in a single hour: The short summer had already died, The body of the ploughed plains smoked. Suddenly the quiet road burst into color, A lament flew up, ringing, silver… Cornering my face, I implored God Before the battle to strike me dead. Like a burden henceforth unnecessary, The shadows of passion and songs vanished from my memory. The Most High ordered it — emptied — To become a grim book of calamity. - From Anna Akhmatova's third collection, White Flock(1917)