"For most of history, Anonymous was a woman." Virginia Woolf

Thursday, January 26, 2006

The Sentence-Anna Akhmatova


In celebration of my productivity today and rebelling against any future drive to bust my ass for the next 30 minutes.

And the stone word fell
On my still-living breast.
Never mind, I was ready.
I will manage somehow.

Today I have so much to do:
I must kill memory once and for all,
I must turn my soul to stone,
I must learn to live again

Unless . . . Summer's ardent rustling
Is like a festival outside my window.
For a long time I've foreseen this
Brilliant day, deserted house.

Translated from the Russian by Judith Hemschemeyer

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