“This cruel age has deflected me,
like a river from this course.”

— Anna Akhmatova

"This Cruel Age has deflected me..." (1944)
Context: This cruel age has deflected me,
like a river from this course.
Strayed from its familiar shores,
my changeling life has flowed
into a sister channel.
How many spectacles I've missed:
the curtain rising without me,
and falling too. How many friends
I never had the chance to meet.

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

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Anna Akhmatova99

Russian modernist poet 1889–1966

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“This cruel age has deflected me,like a river from this course.”

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Anna Akhmatova99

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“This cruel age has deflected me,
like a river from this course.”