Anna Akhmatova

Don’t pine your heart with fleeting worldly bliss,
Never be used to your sweet wife and house,
Take a last piece from your child’s dear mouth 
To give to somebody, who needs. 

And be a slave, submissive to a word
Of him, who was your foe – the sworn, rather,
And call a beast of wilderness your brother,
And wait for nothing from the Lord.


Translated by Yevgeny Bonver, January, 2002