Anna Akhmatova: Citations en anglais
The Guest (1914)
The just man followed then his angel guide
Where he strode on the black highway, hulking and bright;
But a wild grief in his wife's bosom cried,
Look back, it is not too late for a last sight
Of the red towers of your native Sodom, the square
Where once you sang, the gardens you shall mourn,
And the tall house with empty windows where
You loved your husband and your babes were born.
Translator unknown
Lot's Wife
No, it is not I, it is else who is suffering.
I could not have borne it. And this thing, which has happened
Let them cover it with black cloths,
And take away the lanterns...
Night.
Translated by D. M. Thomas
Requiem; 1935-1940 (1963; 1987), Prologue
Leningrad, 1 April 1957
Requiem; 1935-1940 (1963; 1987), Instead of a Preface
Who'll mourn her as one of Lot's family members?
Doesn't she seem the smallest of losses to us?
But deep in my heart I will always remember
One who gave her life up for one single glance.
Translated by Tanya Karshtedt (1996)
A loss, but who still mourns the breath
of one woman, or laments one wife?
Though my heart never can forget,
how, for one look, she gave up her life.
Translated by A.S.Kline
Who would waste tears upon her? Is she not
The least of our losses, this unhappy wife?
Yet in my heart she will not be forgot
Who, for a single glance, gave up her life.
Translator unknown
Lot's Wife
"The First Long Range Artillery Fire On Leningrad," translated by Daniela Gioseffi (1993)
As a White Stone... (1916)
