“Mary Magdalene beat her breasts and sobbed,
His dear disciple, stone-faced, stared.
His mother stood apart. No other looked
into her secret eyes. Nobody dared.
— 1940-1943”

—  Anna Akhmatova

Magdalena struggled, cried and moaned.<br>Piter sank into the stone trance...<br>Only there, where Mother stood alone,<br>None has dared cast a single glance. <br class="br"> Translated by Tanya Karshtedt (1996) http://www.poetryloverspage.com/poets/akhmatova/akhmatova_ind.html <br class="br">Mary Magdalene beat her breast and sobbed,<br>The beloved disciple turned to stone,<br>But where the silent Mother stood, there<br>No one glanced and no one would have dared. <br class="br">Translated by Judith Hemschemeyer <br class="br">Requiem; 1935-1940 (1963; 1987), Crucifixion

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Anna Akhmatova99
Russian modernist poet 1889–1966

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