Anna Akhmatova

Fighting, I heard the close blast,
And all was gone in dimness.
Friends, I was doing what I must,
And any praise is needless.

Laying for free days in a mess –
Alone, forgotten there –
I saw my Kura’s waters, blessed,
And my Tbilisi, fair.

Out my wound was pouring blood,
Death – crashing my resistance …
But here the nurse chanced me to find
And turned back to existence.

And after that, I look for her,
Grieve, as for my bride, dear,
Can never see her any more,
And nothing of her hear.


Translated by Yevgeny Bonver, February 8, 2005
Corrected May 2008