217 Quotes by Anna Akhmatova

Forgive me that I felt forsaken, That grief and angst was all I knew. Forgive me that I kept mistaking Too many other men for you.

I was born not late and not early,This time is blessed and meet,Only God did not allow a heartTo live long without deceit.And from this it is dark in the light room,And from this do the friends I've sought,Like the sorrowful birds of evening,Sing of love that was not.

An as it's going often at love's breaking,The ghost of first days came again to us,The silver willow through window then stretched in,The silver beauty of her gentle branches.The bird began to sing the song of light and pleasureTo us, who fears to lift looks from the earth,Who are so lofty, bitter and intense,About days when we were saved together.

Though you are three times more beautiful than angels,Though you are the sister of the river willows,I will kill you with my singing,Without spilling your blood on the ground.Not touching you with my hand,Not giving you one glance, I will stop loving you,But with your unimaginable groansI will finally slake my thirst.From her, who wandered the earth before me,Crueler than ice, more fiery than flame,From her, who still exists in the ether—From her you will set me free.

I seem to myself, as in a dream,An accidental guest in this dreadful body.

Wild honey smells of freedom The dust - of sunlight The mouth of a young girl, like a violetBut gold - smells of nothing.

Oh, this was a cold dayIn Peter's wonderful town!The shadow grew dense, and the sundownLike purple fire lay.Let him not want my eyes fairProphetic and never-changingAll life long verse he'll be catching -My conceited lips' empty prayer.

Как белый камень в глубине колодца,Лежит во мне одно воспоминанье.Я не могу и не хочу бороться:Оно - веселье и оно - страданье.Мне кажется, что тот, кто близко взглянетВ мои глаза, его увидит сразу.Печальней и задумчивее станетВнимающего скорбному рассказу.Я ведаю, что боги превращалиЛюдей в предметы, не убив сознанья,Чтоб вечно жили дивные печали.Ты превращен в мое воспоминанье.

Did not scold me, did not praise me,Like friends and like enemies.Only left his soul to meAnd then said, "Now keep in peace."And one thing worries me so:If this moment he will die,God's archangel will come to meFor his soul from the sky.How then will I hide her so,How to hide it from God's eyes?She, the soul, that cries and sings soMust be in His paradise.