Poems of Anna Andreevna Akhmatova

Introduction xiii Joseph Brodsky While Reading Hamlet 1(1) The three things he loved most in life... 2(1) The Song of the Final Meeting 3(1) A ruddy youth wandered forlornly around... 4(1) Memories of the sun fade as my heart grows numb--... 5(1) I pressed my hands together under cover... 6(1) As if through a straw, you drink my soul... 7(1) I live like a cuckoo in a clock... 8(1) They didn't bring me a letter today... 9(1) Over the Water 10(1) A doer of nothing, I came here--Why not?... 11(1) Fisherman 12(1) Pusscat, watch out, an embroidered owl... 13(1) Masquerade in the Park 14(1) Wine-dark grapes smell sweet here... 15(1) In the Woods 16(1) To the Muse 17(1) I learned a simple and wise existence... 18(1) As I die, I long for immortality... 19(1) My voice is weak, my will doesn't weaken though... 20(1) The smell of inanimate things and flowers... 21(1) I see on the customs house a faded flag... 22(1) Around my neck are rosary strands... 23(1) We're heavy drinkers here, and women of loose morals... 24(1) Earthly fame's like smoke, I guess--... 25(1) Broad and yellow is the evening light... 26(1) There's a sacred limit to any closeness... 27(1) The loss of true feelings and words renders us... 28(1) Prayer 29(1) Like a white stone in the depths of a well... 30(1) Song about Songs 31(1) You can look straight into my room--... 32(1) It seems that the voice we humans own... 33(1) As for saying goodbye, we don't know how... 34(1) Late at night. Monday. The twenty-third. 35(1) On the hard crests of the snowdrifts that lead... 36(1) Suddenly it was quiet everywhere... 37(1) During each day--today, tomorrow--... 38(1) I hear the oriole's voice, clear and distressed... 39(1) The Tale of the Black Ring 40(2) I asked a nearby cuckoo to say... 42(1) Fear, fingering objects in the dark... 43(1) I called death down on the heads of those I cherished... 44(1) Why are you wandering around so... 45(1) Beyond the lake, the moon's stopped in space... 46(1) Lot's Wife 47(1) The Muse 48(1) If the lunar horror splashes around... 49(1) The Last Toast 50(1) Boris Pasternak 51(2) Voronezh 53(1) Dante 54(1) Cleopatra 55(1) The Willow 56(1) When a person dies... In 1940 57(3) 1. WHEN THEY BURY AN EPOCH... 58(1) 2. TO LONDONERS 58(1) 5. I WARN YOU, THAT'S THE WAY THINGS ARE... 59(1) In Memory of Mikhail Bulgakov 60(1) One travels straight ahead, the other... 61(1) The First Long-Range Artillery Shell in Leningrad 62(1) And, in books, I always liked... 63(1) Housewarming 64(3) 1. THE HOSTESS 64(1) 2. THE GUESTS 64(1) 3. THE BETRAYAL 65(1) 4. THE TRYST 65(1) The Three Autumns 66(1) The Breakup 67(1) 1. NOT WEEKS, NOT MONTHS--IT TOOK US YEARS... 67(1) 2. IN THE BREAKING-UP DAYS, AS MUST ALWAYS HAPPEN... 67(1) This craft of ours, sacred and bright... 68(1) When the moon is lying on the window sill... 69(1) The souls of all my loved ones are on high stars... 70(1) Cinque 71(1) 3. IT'S TRUE I ALWAYS HATED IT... 71(1) Inscription on a Portrait 72(1) Wild Roses Are Blooming 73(3) 4. FIRST LITTLE SONG 73(1) 6. THE DREAM 74(1) 8. YOU INVENTED ME. NO SUCH PERSON EXISTS, THAT'S FOR SURE... 74(1) 9. IN THE BROKEN MIRROR 75(1) Music 76(1) Seaside Sonnet 77(1) The Secrets of the Craft 78(2) 3. MUSE 78(1) 6. THE LAST POEM 78(1) 7. EPIGRAM 79(1) 9. HOW SPICY IS THE SCENT CARNATIONS GIVE... 79(1) Don't threaten me with a terrible fate... 80(1) To the Memory of a Poet 81(1) 1. THAT SINGULAR VOICE HAS STOPPED: SILENCE IS COMPLETE... 81(1) 2. LIKE THE DAUGHTER OF OEDIPUS THE BLIND... 81(1) Requiem 82(6) INSTEAD OF A PREFACE 82(1) DEDICATION 83(1) INTRODUCTION 83(1) 3. NO, THIS ISN'T ME, SOMEONE ELSE SUFFERS... 84(1) 4. THEY SHOULD HAVE SHOWN YOU, GIRL OF THE CLEVER HELLO... 84(1) 5. FOR MONTHS I'VE FILLED THE AIR WITH PLEAS... 85(1) EPILOGUE 85(3) Quatrain Sequence (Selections) 88(2) MARBLE CRUMBLES, STEEL ROTS LIKE A LEAF... 88(1) TO MY POEMS 88(1) FIERY EYES, BELIEVE ME... 88(1) MY NAME 88(1) SWIMMING IN A GOLDEN HAZE... 89(1) Listening to Singing 90(1) The Last Rose 91(1) Midnight Verses 92(5) INSTEAD OF A DEDICATION 92(1) 1. PRE-SPRING ELEGY 92(1) 2. THE FIRST WARNING 93(1) 3. THROUGH THE LOOKING-GLASS 93(1) 4. THIRTEEN LINES 94(1) 5. THE CALL 94(1) 6. NIGHT VISIT 94(1) 7. AND THE LAST ONE 95(1) INSTEAD OF AN AFTERWORD 96(1) All of Moscow is soaked with verses... 97(1) It's not with a lover's lyre, not at all... 98(1) Where nothing is needed, I walk like a child... 99(1) On the Road 100