The Complete Poems of Anna Akhmatova

, by Akhmatova, Anna Andreevna

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ISBN: 9780939010271 | 0939010275
Cover: Paperback
Copyright: 1/1/1998

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Summary

Supplemental Materials

The definitve collection of Anna Akhmatova in English translation.

List of Illustrations

xxx

Acknowledgements

xxxix

Translator's Preface

(16)

Judith Hemschemeyer

Mirrors and Masks: The Life and Poetic Works of Anna Akhmatova

(18)

Roberta Reeder

Anna Akhmatova: A Memoir

(22)

Isaiah Berlin

Chronology

(6)

Third Printing (Revised): New Poems and Revisions

(4)

Portfolio: Tsarskoye Selo

(14)

EVENING

Love

(2)

In Tsarskoye Selo

``They're leading the horses...''

(1)

``...And there's my marble double...''

(1)

``A dark-skinned youth wandered...''

(1)

``The boy who plays the bagpipes...''

(1)

``Love conquers by deception...''

(1)

``Under her dark veil she wrung her hands...''

(1)

``The heart's memory of the sun grows faint... ''

(1)

``High in the sky a small cloud grayed...''

(1)

``The door is half open...''

(1)

``Do you want to know how it was...''

(1)

The Song of the Last Meeting

(1)

``As if with a straw...''

(1)

``Oh, strange boy, I lost my head...''

(1)

``I don't need legs anymore...''

(4)

II.

Deception

``This morning is drunk with spring sun...''

(1)

``The wind blows stifling hot...''

(1)

``Dark blue evening...''

(1)

``I finally wrote down the words...''

(1)

``When you're drunk it's so much fun...''

(1)

``My husband whipped me...''

(1)

``One heart isn't chained to another...''

(1)

A Song

(1)

``I came here, an idler...''

(1)

On a White Night

(1)

``Under the dark roof of the threshing shed...''

(1)

``Bury me, bury me, wind!''

(1)

``Believe me, not the serpent's sharp sting...''

(1)

III.

To the Muse

(3)

Alisa

``Everything mourns for the forgotten...''

100

(1)

``How late it is! I'm tired, I'm yawning...''

101

(1)

Masquerade in the Park

102

(1)

Evening Room

103

(1)

The Gray-Eyed King

104

(1)

The Fisherman

104

(1)

He Loved...

105

(1)

``They didn't bring me a letter today...''

106

(1)

Inscription on an Unfinished Portrait

106

(1)

``The smell of blue grapes is sweet...''

107

(1)

Imitation of I. E. Annensky

108

(1)

``The park was filled with light mist...''

108

(1)

``I live like a cuckoo in a clock...''

109

(1)

Funeral

109

(1)

The Garden

110

(1)

Over the Water

111

(1)

``Three times it came to torment me...''

112

(1)

(ADDITIONS)

``I pray to the sunbeam from the window...''

113

(2)

Two Poems

``Both sides of the pillow...''

113

(1)

``That same voice, that same gaze...''

114

(1)

Reading Hamlet

``Dust rose from the vacant lot...''

114

(1)

``And as if by mistake...''

115

(1)

``And when we had cursed each other...''

115

(1)

First Return

116

(1)

``I wept and repented...''

116

(1)

``At the new moon he abandoned me...''

117

(1)

``Moorka, don't go...''

117

(2)

Portfolio: Petersburg

119

(15)

ROSARY

Confusion

``It was stifling in the burning light...''

133

(1)

``Don't you love me...''

133

(1)

``As simple civility demands...''

133

(1)

Outing

134

(1)

In the Evening

135

(1)

``We are all carousers and loose women here...''

135

(1)

``After the wind and the frost...''

136

(1)

``...And they didn't come out with lanterns... ''

137

(1)

``Helplessly, my eyes ask mercy...''

137

(1)

``My imagination obeys me...''

138

(1)

Fragment

139

(1)

``One would not mistake true tenderness...''

139

(1)

``We will not drink, from the same glass . . ''

140

(1)

``I have a certain smile...''

141

(1)

``How many demands the beloved can make!''

141

(1)

``We met for the last time...''

142

(1)

``Hello! Do you hear the light rustling...''

142

(1)

II.

``In this house there's a pleasant smell...''

143

(1)

``Each day is anxious all over again...''

144

(1)

``The boy said to me: `How this hurts!'''

144

(1)

``The high vaults of the Polish church... ''

145

(1)

``It drags on forever-this heavy, amber day!''

146

(1)

The Voice of Memory

146

(1)

``I've learned to live simply, wisely...''

147

(1)

``Here everything is the same as before...''

147

(1)

Insomnia

148

(1)

``You know I languish in captivity...''

149

(1)

``He made a charcoal mark on the left side...''

149

(1)

III.

``I ask you to pray for my poor...living soul...''

150

(1)

``I see the faded flag above the customhouse...''

151

(1)

``The dry lips are tightly closed...''

151

(1)

``You gave me a difficult youth...''

152

November

(145)

1913

153

(1)

``You've come to comfort me, darling...''

153

(1)

``Dying, I am tormented by immortality...''

154

(1)

``Darling, don't crumple my letter...''

154

(1)

Confession

155

(1)

``With my pencil case and books in a bookstrap...''

156

(1)

``Since Agrafena-Kupalnitsa's...''

156

(1)

``I won't start drinking wine with you...''

156

(1)

``Evening hours at the desk...''

157

(1)

IV.

``Intertwined in my dark braids...''

158

(1)

```I came to take your place, sister...''

158

(3)

Verses About Petersburg

``Once more St. Isaac's wears robes...''

160

(1)

``My heart beats calmly, steadily...''

160

(1)

``I know, I know-the skis will crunch...''

161

(1)

Venice

162

(1)

``Under the icon, a threadbare rug...''

162

(1)

The Guest

163

(1)

``I visited the poet...''

164

(1)

(ADDITIONS)

``I led my lover out to the hall...''

165

(1)

``Can you forgive me these November days?''

165

(1)

``I'm not asking for your love...''

165

(1)

```The palms of your hands are burning...''

166

(1)

``You will live without misfortune...''

167

(6)

WHITE FLOCK

``We thought: we are beggars, we have nothing...''

173

(1)

``I will leave your white house and tranquil garden...''

173

(1)

Solitude

174

(1)

Song about a Song

174

(1)

``Weak is my voice...''

175

(1)

``He was jealous, troubled and tender...''

176

(1)

``Memory of love, you are painful!''

176

(1)

``The sky's dark blue lacquer has dimmed...''

177

(1)

``Instead of wisdom.. :'

177

(1)

``Ah! It's you again...''

178

(1)

``The Muse fled down the road...''

178

(1)

``I no longer smile...''

179

(1)

``They are flying, they are still on their way...''

179

(1)

``Oh, it was a cold day...''

180

(1)

``This was my prayer...''

180

(1)

``There is a sacred boundary between those who are close...''

181

(1)

``Everything has been cut off...''

182

(1)

``For us to lose freshness of words...''

182

(1)

The Reply

183

(1)

``My blissful cradle was a dark city...''

183

(1)

II.

December 9, 1913

184

(1)

``How can you bear to look at the Neva?''

185

(1)

``Under the freezing roof...''

185

(1)

``All year you've been inseparable from me...''

185

(1)

Kiev

186

(1)

``The mysterious spring still thrills...''

187

(1)

Separation

188

(1)

``The road by the seaside garden darkens...''

188

(1)

``We're not in the forest...''

188

(1)

``The Lord is not merciful to reapers and gardeners...''

189

(1)

``Everything promised him to me...''

190

(1)

``Like a fiancee, I receive...''

190

(1)

``The angel of God...''

191

(1)

``Somewhere there is a simple life...''

191

(1)

``She approached. I didn't betray my agitation...''

192

(1)

Flight

192

(2)

``I seldom think about you now...''

194

(1)

Statue in Tsarskoye Selo

194

(1)

``Drowsiness takes me back again...''

195

(1)

``I can still see hilly Pavlovsk...''

196

(1)

``The everlasting is rosy and dry...''

197

(1)

III.

May Snow

198

(1)

``Why do you pretend to be...''

198

(1)

``The pellucid glass of the empty heavens...''

199

(1)

July 1914

``It smells of burning...''

199

(1)

``The sweet smell of juniper...''

200

(1)

``That voice opposing total silence...''

200

``We don't know how to say good-bye...''

20l

(202)

Comfort

202

(1)

``I should have raucously screeched little folk tunes...''

202

(1)

Prayer

203

(1)

``Tall woman, where is your little gypsy...''

203

(1)

``How many times I've cursed...''

204

(1)

``It's impossible to get here...''

205

(1)

``I see, I see the moon's bended bow...''

205

(1)

``Noiselessly they walked about the house...''

206

(1)

To My Sister

207

(1)

``Just as the other cranes...''

208

(1)

``Under an oaken slab in the churchyard...''

209

(1)

``Your spirit is clouded by arrogance...''

209

(1)

``I will go there and weariness will fly away...''

210

(1)

In Memoriam, July 19, 1914

210

(1)

IV.

``Before spring there are days like these...''

211

(1)

``This fifth season of the year...''

212

(1)

``I myself chose the fate...''

212

(1)

Dream

212

(1)

The White House

213

(1)

``For a long time he walked through fields and villages...''

214

(1)

``Broad and yellow is the evening light...''

215

(1)

``I don't know if you're living or dead...''

215

(1)

``No, tsarevitch, I am not the one...''

216

(1)

``I will root out this day from your memory...''

217

(1)

``He didn't mock me, he didn't praise...''

218

(1)

``There my shadow remained, and it grieves...''

218

(1)

``The twenty-first. Night. Monday...''

219

(1)

``The sky sows a fine rain...''

219

(1)

``I know that you are my reward...''

220

(1)

To the Beloved

221

(1)

``Has my fate changed so much...''

221

(1)

``Like a white stone in the depths of a well...''

222

(1)

``The first ray of light-God's blessing...''

223

(1)

(ADDITIONS)

``And it seems-a human voice...''

223

(1)

``When, in the gloomiest of capitals...''

224

(1)

``How steep and resounding these bridges are...''

225

(1)

``Why then did I used to hold you in my arms... ''

226

(1)

``I was born neither too early nor too late...''

226

(1)

``I don't need much happiness...''

227

(1)

``The city disappeared...''

227

(1)

``Oh, there are unique words...''

228

(1)

``I dream of him less often now, thank God...''

228

(1)

``Not mystery and not grief...''

229

(1)

``We will be together, darling, together...''

230

(1)

``The dark road twisted...''

230

(1)

``How I love, how I loved to look...''

231

(6)

PLANTAIN

``Suddenly it's become still in the house...''

237

(1)

``You are an apostate...''

237

(1)

``To wake at dawn...''

238

(1)

``And into secret friendship...''

239

(1)

``Like the angel moving upon the water...''

239

(1)

``When he finally hears the news...''

239

(1)

``And now you are depressed and despondent...''

240

(1)

``Someone else's captive?''

240

(1)

``I asked the cuckoo...''

241

(1)

``All week I don't say a word to anyone...''

241

(1)

``In every twenty-four hours there is one...''

242

(1)

``Earthly fame is like smoke...''

243

(1)

``It is simple, it is clear...''

243

(1)

``Oh no, it wasn't you I loved...''

244

(1)

``I am listening to the orioles' ever mournful voice...''

245

(1)

``How terribly the body has changed...''

245

(1)

``I haven't covered the little window...''

246

(1)

``No one sang about that meeting...''

246

(1)

``And here, left alone...''

247

(1)

``Has this century been worse...''

247

(1)

``Now no one will listen to songs...''

248

(1)

``Over the snowdrift's hard crust...''

248

(1)

``Now farewell, capital...''

249

(1)

``Long years I waited for him in vain...''

250

(1)

At Night

250

(1)

``The river flows slowly through the valley...''

251

(1)

``Around the neck is a string of fine beads...''

251

(1)

Little Song

252

(1)

``And all day, terrified by its own moans...''

253

(1)

``You shouldn't be in my dreams so often...''

253

(1)

``When in suicidal anguish...''

253

(1)

(ADDITION)

To Zara

254

(5)

ANNO DOMINI MCMXXI

I. AFTER EVERYTHING

Petrograd, 1919

259

(1)

Bezhetsk

260

(1)

Prophecy

260

(2)

The Voice of Another

``I didn't mean to trick you, my angel...''

261

(1)

``In that year long ago, when love flared...''

261

(1)

``He said that I have no rivals...''

262

(1)

``Don't torment your heart with earthly joys...''

262

(1)

``I am not with those who abandoned their land...''

263

(4)

Dark Dream

``Praising me inarticulately...''

263

(1)

``You are always novel and mysterious...''

264

(1)

``Because of your enigmatic love...''

265

(1)

``Ice floes float by, resounding...''

265

(1)

Number Three, Zachatevsky

266

(1)

``Submissive to you? You're out of your mind!''

266

(1)

``Why do you wander restlessly?''

267

(1)

``The wind of swans is blowing...''

267

(1)

``The angel who for three years watched over me...''

268

(1)

``He whispers: `I'm not sorry...''

269

(1)

``A monstrous rumor roams the city...''

269

(1)

``Falling ill, just as expected...''

270

(1)

``The moon stalled behind the lake...''

270

(1)

``How could you, strong and free...''

271

(4)

Biblical Verses

Rachel

272

(1)

Lot's Wife

273

(1)

Michal

274

(1)

Lamentation

275

(1)

``Here is the shore of the northern sea...''

276

(1)

``It is good here...''

276

(1)

The Tale of the Black Ring

277

(2)

``The fantastic autumn constructed a high cupola...''

279

(1)

II. MCMXXI

``Everything has been plundered...''

279

(1)

``Dear traveler, you are far away...''

280

(1)

``Certainly I'll do you a good turn...''

281

(1)

``We won't meet. We are in different camps...''

281

(1)

``Terror, fingering things in the dark...''

282

(1)

``You were promised to me neither by life nor by God...''

282

(1)

``Oh, life without tomorrow's day!''

283

(1)

``Somehow we've managed to part...''

284

(1)

``Ah-you thought I'd be the type...''

284

(1)

``Let the voice of the organ again burst forth...''

285

(1)

``Cast-iron fence...

286

(1)

``Today is the nameday of Our Lady of Smolensk...''

286

(1)

``You prophecy, bitter one...''

287

(1)

``You are no longer among the living...''

287

(1)

``Until I collapse by the fence...''

288

(1)

``On the white threshold of paradise...''

289

(1)

``I brought disaster to my dear ones...''

289

(1)

``Exhausted by your long, fixed gaze...''

290

(1)

Slander

290

(1)

III. THE VOICE OF MEMORY

``The gates are thrown wide open...''

291

(1)

``The log bridge is blackened and twisted...''

292

(1)

``That August was like a yellow flame...''

293

(1)

Apparition

294

(2)

Three Verses

``Yes, I loved them, those nightly gatherings...''

295

(1)

``There was no temptation...''

295

(1)

``Isn't it to escape from this damned easy life...''

295

(1)

Lullaby

296

(1)

``The tear-stained autumn, like a widow...''

296

(1)

``I will tend these rich, black beds...''

297

(1)

New Year's Ballad

298

(1)

``Oh, if only I'd known, when, dressed in white...''

298

(1)

To the Many

299

(2)

Portfolio: Photo Biography

301

(72)

REED

Inscription on a Book

373

(1)

The Muse

373

(1)

To the Artist

374

(1)

``Here the exile of Pushkin began...''

375

(1)

``If moonlight terror overflows...''

375

(1)

``This city, beloved by me since childhood...''

375

(1)

Couplet

376

(1)

Incantation

377

(1)

``Hasn't he sent a swan for me...''

377

(1)

``Some of them exchange fond glances...''

378

(1)

``I hid my heart from you...''

379

(1)

The Poet

379

(1)

Voronezh

380

(1)

``Celebrate our latest anniversary...''

381

(1)

``Wild honey smells like freedom...''

382

(1)

``All this you alone can guess...''

383

(1)

Requiem

384

(11)

Dante

395

(1)

Cleopatra

396

(1)

Willow

397

(1)

From the Cycle ``Youth''

397

(2)

The Cellar of Memory

399

(1)

``Thus dark souls take flight...''

399

(2)

When someone dies...''

401

(1)

Parting

``Not weeks, not months...''

401

(1)

``And, as always happens in the days of final rupture...''

401

(1)

The Last Toast

402

(1)

Mayakovsky in 1913

402

(1)

Inscription on the Book Plantain

403

(1)

Leningrad in March 1941

404

(15)

SEVENTH BOOK

Secrets of the Craft

Creation

413

(1)

``I don't need martial hosts arrayed in odes...''

413

(1)

The Muse

414

(1)

The Poet

414

(1)

The Reader

415

(1)

Latest Poem

416

(1)

Epigram

417

(1)

Concerning Poetry

418

(1)

``I bend over them as if over a cup...''

418

(1)

``Probably much still remains...''

419

(1)

``And in books it was the last page...''

419

(2)

Pushkin

421

(1)

``Our holy trade...''

421

(1)

Teacher

422

(15)

In the Fortieth Year

``When they come to bury the epoch...''

422

(1)

To the Londoners

423

(1)

Shade

424

(1)

``I thought I knew all the insomnias...''

424

(1)

``But I am giving you notice...''

425

(1)

The Wind of War

Vow

426

(1)

``Grandly they said good-bye to the girls...''

426

(1)

First Long-Range Firing on Leningrad

427

(1)

``The birds of death are at the zenith...''

427

(1)

Courage

428

(1)

``Trenches have been dug in the garden...''

429

(1)

``Knock with your little fist- I will open...''

429

(1)

Nox

430

(1)

To the Victors

430

(1)

``And you, my friends from the latest call-up!''

431

(1)

``To the right the vacant lots unfurl...''

431

(1)

``Something glorious is beginning gloriously...''

432

(1)

``The first lighthouse flashed over the jetty...''

432

(1)

``Victory is standing at our door...''

432

(1)

January 27, 1944

433

(1)

Liberation

433

(1)

To the Memory of a Friend

433

(1)

The Moon at Zenith

``To fall asleep distressed...''

434

(1)

``Was it from Leningrad's terrible squares...''

434

(1)

``Everything comes back to me again...''

435

(1)

``And in memory, as if in a carved chest...''

435

(1)

``I am greeting my third spring...''

435

(1)

``I haven't been here for seven hundred years...''

436

(1)

Apparition of the Moon

436

(1)

``As in a dining hall...''

437

(1)

One More Lyrical Digression

437

(2)

Death

``I was on the edge of something...''

438

(1)

``And I am standing on the threshold...''

439

(1)

``When the moon lies like a slice of Chardush melon...''

439

(1)

``Those lynx eyes of yours, Asia...''

440

(8)

Tashkent in Bloom

``As if on someone's command...''

440

(1)

``I will remember the roof of stars...''

440

(1)

From the Airplane

``For hundreds of versts...''

441

(1)

``With a white stone I'll record this day...''

441

(1)

``It's spring at the airdrome...''

441

(1)

Housewarming

The Hostess

442

(1)

Guests

442

(1)

Betrayal

443

(1)

A Meeting

443

(1)

A Group of Quatrains

``What is war, what is plague?''

444

(1)

``Gold rusts and steel decays...''

444

(1)

``In every tree, the crucified Lord...''

445

(1)

To Poetry

445

(1)

``... And in this breeze...''

445

(1)

``It is stingy, and rich...''

445

(1)

Name

446

(1)

The End of the Demon

446

(1)

``And my heart was replete...''

446

(1)

``I don't weep for myself now...''

447

(1)

``Glances more fiery than fire...''

447

(1)

``And fame floated like a swan...''

447

(1)

Three Autumns

448

(1)

Near Kolomna

449

(1)

``All the souls of my loved ones...''

449

(1)

``Like the fifth act of a drama...''

450

(1)

Second Anniversary

451

(1)

Latest Return

452

(1)

Inscription on a Portrait

452

(4)

Cinque

``As if on the rim of a cloud...''

453

(1)

``Sounds die away in the ether...''

454

(1)

``For so long I hated...''

454

(1)

``You know yourself that I'm not going to celebrate...''

454

(1)

``We hadn't breathed the poppies' somnolence...''

455

(1)

Sweetbrier in Blossom ``Instead of good wishes for the holiday...''

456

(9)

The Burnt Notebook

456

(1)

In Reality

457

(1)

In a Dream

457

(1)

First Song

458

(1)

Another Song

458

(1)

A Dream

459

(1)

``Along the road where Donskoy...''

460

(1)

``You invented me. There is no such earthly being...''

460

(1)

In a Broken Mirror

461

(1)

``Let whoever wants to, relax in the south...''

462

(1)

``Don't be afraid--I can still portray...''

463

(1)

``You demand poems from me bluntly...''

463

(1)

``And for people this will become...''

464

(1)

``One walks in a straight line...''

465

(1)

``And that heart no longer responds...''

465

(1)

``...And the man who means...''

466

(1)

``Here it is, fruitful autumn!''

466

(1)

Before Not Sending a Poem

467

(2)

Moscow Trefoil

Almost into the Album

467

(1)

Untitled

468

(1)

One More Toast

468

(1)

Midnight Verses In Place of a Dedication

469

(6)

Elegy Before the Coming of Spring

469

(1)

First Warning

470

(1)

Through the Looking Glass

471

(1)

Thirteen Lines

472

(1)

The Call

472

(1)

The Visit at Night

473

(1)

And the Last

473

(2)

In Place of an Epilogue

474

(1)

ODD NUMBER

Seaside Sonnet

475

(1)

Music

476

(1)

Fragment

476

(1)

The Summer Garden

477

(1)

``It's as if I heard a distant voice...''

478

(1)

``Don't threaten me with a terrible fate...''

478

(4)

To the City of Pushkin

``Oh, woe is me! They have burned you down...''

479

(1)

``The leaves of this willow withered...''

479

(1)

Little Songs

Roadside Song, Or a Voice from the Dark

480

(1)

Superfluous Song

481

(1)

Farewell Song

481

(1)

The Last One

482

(1)

From the Cycle ``Tashkent Pages''

482

(1)

March Elegy

483

(1)

Picture on a Book of Poems

484

(1)

Echo

485

(3)

Three Poems

``It's time to forget the uproar of camels...''

485

(1)

``And rummaging in black memory...''

486

(1)

``He is right-once again streetlight...''

486

(1)

A Small Page from Antiquity

The Death of Sophocles

487

(1)

Alexander at Thebes

487

(1)

``The `unforgettable dates' are approaching again...''

488

(1)

``If everyone in the world...''

489

(1)

``And once more the autumn blasts like Tamerlane...''

490

(1)

To the Memory of the Poet

``Yesterday the inimitable voice fell silent...''

490

(1)

``Like the little daughter of blind Oedipus...''

491

(1)

Tsarskoye Selo Ode

491

(2)

Native Land

493

(1)

Komarovo Sketches

493

(1)

The Last Rose

494

(1)

``Despite all the vows...''

495

(1)

To the Memory of V S. Sreznevskaya

495

(1)

In Vyborg

496

(1)

``This land, although not my native land...''

496

(5)

EPIC AND DRAMATIC FRAGMENTS AND LONG POEMS

From a Primeval Poem

501

(4)

Epic Motifs

``At that time I was a guest upon the earth...''

501

(2)

``Having forsaken my homeland's sacred groves...''

503

(1)

``Night came on and in the dark blue sky...''

504

(1)

Fragment from... ``The Russian Trianon''

505

(2)

In Smolensk Cemetery

507

(12)

Northern Elegies

Prehistory

508

(2)

``So here it is-that autumn landscape...''

510

(1)

``I, like a river...''

511

(2)

``There are three ages to memories...''

513

(1)

About the 1910's

514

(1)

``It was dreadful to live in that house...''

515

(2)

``And I have been silent, silent for thirty years...''

517

(2)

Lyrical Digression on the Seventh Elegy

519

(2)

At the Edge of the Sea

521

(9)

The Way of All the Earth

530

(11)

From Prologue

``Certainly no one in the world...''

535

(1)

``... I was the one forbidden book...''

535

(1)

``Though you are three times more beautiful than angels...''

536

(1)

``And you know, I agree to everything...''

537

(1)

``Because I shared the primal darkness with you...''

537

(1)

``However many tortures the other invented for me...''

538

(1)

``This paradise, in which we did not sin...''

538

(1)

``You frighten with caresses...''

538

(1)

``Do not take yourself by the hand...''

539

(1)

``Release me if just for a minute...''

539

(1)

``The world never perceived such poverty...''

539

(1)

``We tasted the forbidden knowledge...''

539

(2)

Poem Without a Hero

541

(41)

Additions (Stanzas not included in the text of Poem Without a Hero, and poems relating to its composition)

582

(11)

Portfolio: The Artist's Muse

593

(22)

UNCOLLECTED POEMS AND FRAGMENTS 1904-1917

``I plucked lilies, lovely and fragrant...''

615

(1)

``I walked with you over the black abyss...''

615

(1)

``Oh, hush! these strange, thrilling words...''

616

(1)

``I know how to love...''

616

(1)

Spring Air Imperiously Courageous

617

(1)

``On his hands are lots of shining rings...''

617

(1)

``My night-feverish ravings about you...''

618

(1)

From the First Notebook

619

(1)

``Either I stayed with you...''

619

(1)

``Your crazy eyes...''

620

(1)

``They came and said: `Your brother died.'''

620

(1)

``For you, Aphrodite, I'll compose a dance...''

621

(1)

``In my room lives a beautiful...''

621

(1)

``On the little table, tea, rich pastries...''

622

(1)

`` `I am fatal for those who are tender and young...''

622

(1)

``For a long time I stood at Hell's heavy gates...''

623

(1)

Solitude

623

(1)

In the Forest

623

(1)

The Old Portrait

624

(1)

``The old oak rustles about the past...''

625

(1)

``You are with me again...''

625

(1)

``In the corner an old man resembling a ram...''

626

(1)

``When we die it won't become darker...''

627

(1)

``You've spent the whole day at the window...''

627

(1)

``As if with a huge, heavy hammer...''

628

(1)

``Come and take a look at me...''

628

(1)

(To F.K. Sologub)

629

(1)

``The corolla's needles catch fire...''

629

(1)

``We will still add to this...''

629

(1)

``In your fine hand you are writing Lise...''

630

(1)

The Reply

630

(1)

``I won't say anything, I won't open the door...''

631

(1)

Latest Letter

632

(1)

``I saw the field after the hail...''

633

(1)

``And the fever at evening...''

634

(1)

``Beyond the hazy pattern of the windowpanes...''

634

(1)

``I'm not embarrassed by offensive remarks...''

635

(1)

``And through everything and every moment...''

635

(1)

``He smiled, standing on the threshold...''

635

(1)

``Like someone who has left by the western gate...''

636

(1)

From Old Verses

636

(1)

``How long the New Year's holiday...''

636

(1)

``Empty white Yuletide...''

637

(1)

To Tamara Platonovna Karsavina

637

(1)

``Some great misfortune happened to me here...''

638

(1)

``Nowhere did I find my beloved...''

638

(1)

``From you came uneasiness...''

639

(1)

``You, the leader, standing by the spring...''

640

(1)

``... it is the one who gave me the zither...''

640

(1)

``The bare, bleak days pass, peacefully...''

641

(1)

Last Will and Testament

641

(1)

``The evening bell on the monastery wall...''

642

(1)

``Flowers, cold from the dew...''

642

(1)

``He did not kill, did not curse...''

643

(1)

White Night

643

(1)

``It's time to buy land...''

644

(1)

``They are bearing someone's yellow coffin out...''

644

(1)

``Because sin is what I glorified...''

644

(1)

``In the interval between thunderstorms...''

645

(1)

``I don't like flowers...''

645

(1)

``And in the Kievian church of Divine Wisdom...''

646

(1)

``On the right, the Dneiper...''

646

(1)

Fragment

647

(1)

``With the first sound falling from the piano...''

647

(1)

``If the moon does not wander through the sky...''

648

(1)

``Marvelous destiny named us...''

649

(1)

``...You can't make a soul mortal...''

649

(1)

``You won't divine it immediately...''

649

(1)

``In the city of the gatekeeper of paradise...''

650

(1)

``In this church I heard the Canon...''

650

(1)

``On the drawbridge...''

650

(7)

1919-1941

``I am bitter and old...''

657

(1)

``The tomtits sing well...''

657

(1)

``Good fortune flew away from me...''

657

(1)

``Isn't it strange that we knew him?''

658

(1)

``A light beer has been brewed...''

658

(1)

``That evening should be put to death...''

658

(1)

``Hello, Piter. It's bad, old boy...''

659

(1)

``The devil didn't betray me...''

660

(1)

``How boring to have to defend...''

660

(1)

``It has been seven years...''

661

(1)

``I will not profane my lips with your name...''

661

(1)

``Here the most beautiful girls fight...''

661

(1)

``It would be so easy to abandon this life...''

662

(1)

``And you will forgive me everything...''

662

(1)

``Forgive me, that I manage badly...''

662

(1)

To the Caucasus

663

(1)

``And I will wander here at night...''

663

(1)

``Ah! -- where are those islands...''

663

(1)

``Why did you poison the water...''

664

(1)

A Little Geography

664

(1)

``Speaking frankly...''

665

(1)

``And I am not at all a prophet...''

665

(1)

Imitation from the Armenian

665

(1)

``...I know I can't move from this place...''

666

(1)

``To the New Year! To new bitterness!''

666

(1)

To the Memory of M.B.

667

(1)

``I put my curly-haired son to bed...''

667

(2)

Stanzas

669

(1)

Belated Reply

669

(1)

``And here, in defiance of the fact...''

670

(1)

``The neighbor, out of pity...''

671

(1)

``And all those whom my heart won't forget...''

671

(1)

``What I am doing, everyone is capable of doing...''

672

(1)

``Such a thunderstorm...''

673

(4)

1941-MAY 1945

``To live-as if in freedom...''

677

(1)

Leningrad Quatrains

``The enemy banner..:'

677

(1)

``Dig, my shovel...''

677

(1)

``Even though the signal fire is not burning...''

678

(1)

``And of everything earthly there remained...''

678

(1)

``This is how I am...''

678

(2)

``It's amusing for you, under the floorboards...''

680

(1)

``If you are death...''

680

(1)

Typhus

680

(1)

``My eyes don't move from the horizon...''

681

(1)

``Leningrad blue eyes...''

681

(1)

``We will go to Samarkand to die...''

681

(1)

``When out of habit I say...''

682

(1)

``And the double in the mirror conceals...''

682

(1)

Inscription on the Poem ``Triptych''

682

(1)

Postscript to ``The Leningrad Cycle''

683

(1)

(Another Postscript to the ``Leningrad Cycle'')

683

(1)

Death

684

(1)

``De profundis... My generation tasted little honey...''

684

(1)

``You, Asia--motherland of motherlands!''

685

(1)

Palmyra

686

(1)

``Can it be I'm no longer the one. ..''

686

(1)

``Our feelings then were so much alike...''

687

(1)

``... For the lily-of-the-valley month of May...''

687

(1)

``Our boys, they defended us...''

687

(1)

Lamentation

688

(1)

``If, when I flew, overtaking the sun...''

688

(1)

``Because of the strange lyrics...''

689

Additions to the Cycle ``Victory''

688

(2)

``There's a silhouette of Faust in the distance...''

690

(1)

``There's something wrong with me again...''

691

(1)

``The one people once called...''

691

(4)

SEPTEMBER 1945-1956

``I wouldn't have known how the quince tree blossoms...''

695

(1)

``Let a wave of music crash...''

696

(1)

``And the sly crescent moon...''

696

(1)

``At great expense and unexpectedly...''

696

(1)

``I bid farewell to everyone...''

697

(1)

``With the rabble in a ditch...''

697

(1)

Lullaby

698

(1)

The Glass Doorbell

698

(1)

``Everyone left and no one returned...''

699

(1)

Shards

700

(1)

``I don't have special claims...''

701

(1)

Festive Song

702

(1)

``Ah, for you Russian is not enough...''

702

(1)

``Regarding myself as a mere echo...''

702

(1)

From the Cycle ``Secrets of the Craft''

703

(1)

From the Cycle ``Burnt Notebook''

703

(1)

``Others go off with their loved ones...''

704

(1)

Prologue

705

(1)

``Even that voice will not deceive me...''

705

(1)

``I am drawn to the roads around Moscow...''

706

(5)

1957-1966

``They will forget?-How astonishing!''

711

(1)

``In vain you fling at my feet...''

711

(1)

August

712

(1)

``It's no wonder that sometimes my unruly verse...''

713

(1)

``At least today give me a call...''

713

(1)

``Chopin's Polonaise is passing once more...''

714

(1)

``Away from me, as from that countess...''

714

(1)

``All the unburied ones-I buried them...''

715

(1)

``To bequeath to some wild violin...''

715

(1)

``And you will be one of those old women...''

715

(1)

``And everyone followed me, my readers...''

715

(1)

Inscription on a Book

716

(1)

``Don't disturb my life...''

716

(1)

``This is neither old nor new...''

717

(1)

Speed

718

(1)

``But I didn't give you the ring...''

718

(1)

``I threw thousands of bell-towers...''

718

(1)

``It's not that I am searching for you...''

719

(1)

``I was captivated by mistake...''

719

(1)

Ravings

720

(1)

Four Seasons of the Year

720

(1)

``For a long time I haven't believed in telephones...''

721

(1)

Creation

721

(1)

March Elegies

722

(1)

The Heiress

722

(1)

``You are to live, but I, not very much longer...''

723

(1)

``And it is impossible to take from them...''

724

(1)

``And the mad face of black music...''

724

(1)

``What is separation to us?-A jaunty game...''

724

(1)

``These praises for me are not due to rank...''

725

(1)

From the Sketches

725

(1)

``Somebody's voice can be heard by the porch...''

726

(1)

``What? Only ten years, you're joking, my Lord!''

726

(1)

``You were the first to yield...''

726

(1)

``And she could have done this...''

726

(1)

``Like someone mute and blind and deaf...''

727

(1)

To the Memory of Anta

727

(1)

``No more joking...''

727

(1)

``And he lures me with youth, and promises fame...''

728

(1)

The Pines

729

(1)

``And the flock of pansies...''

729

(1)

``Under the cherished maple...''

730

(1)

``No, we didn't suffer together in vain...''

730

(1)

``Sickness has kept me languishing...''

731

(1)

Listening to Singing

731

(1)

``Prayerful days in the hospital...''

732

(1)

``You were right not to take me along...''

732

(1)

``You won't have to answer for me...''

732

(1)

Imitation of the Korean

733

(1)

Almost into the Album

733

(1)

The Publication of a Book

734

(1)

``And the northern news...''

735

(1)

More about This Summer

735

(1)

``What do we have in common?''

736

(1)

``Perhaps afterwards you hated me...''

736

(1)

``Everyone, even the uninvited...''

737

(1)

``How forgetful life is, and death...''

737

(1)

Sonnet

737

(1)

Midnight Verses

738

(1)

``An unforeseen evil befell...''

738

(1)

``And it was so good this summer...''

739

(1)

``From the burial mound's deadly vault...''

739

(1)

``Abused, praised...''

740

(1)

The Fifth Rose

740

(1)

``You-in fact, are somebody's husband...''

741

(1)

``Everything in Moscow in steeped in verses...''

742

(1)

``Leave me alone with music...''

742

(1)

``I'm playing the very game...''

743

(1)

``...and to die in haughty consciousness...''

743

(1)

Forbidden Rose

743

(1)

``Grand Confession''

744

(4)

``I'm walking again in the thickets of night...''

748

(1)

The North

748

(1)

Romance

749

(1)

Christmastime (December 24)

749

(1)

From the Diary of a Traveller

750

(1)

From the Italian Diary

750

(1)

``But who would have thought that Sixty-Four...''

751

(1)

``The violent wine of lechery...''

751

(1)

To Music

751

(1)

``And as music began to sound...''

752

(1)

``We learned not to meet anymore...''

752

(1)

``I am going where nothing is needed...''

752

(1)

``Only life is forgetful...''

752

(1)

``The aria Zibelia is still suffering there...''

753

(1)

``Who sent him here... ''

753

(1)

``It's not being with you that comforts me...''

753

(1)

``Torment proved to be my muse...''

753

(1)

``And your dome was not touched with the gold...''

753

(1)

``And the harsh sounds became damp...''

754

(1)

``Off in the distance hung some sort of bridge...''

754

(1)

``So we lowered our eyes...''

754

(1)

``And you will love me all your life...''

755

(1)

Fragment

755

(1)

``Let the Australian sit down, invisible...''

756

(1)

Sonnet

757

(1)

``And my sonnet arises...''

757

(1)

¦ ``Ice is growing on the windowpanes...''

758

(1)

``I am still at home today...''

758

(1)

Little Song

759

(1)

``Strain both your voice and hearing...''

759

(1)

``I lift the receiver-I say my name...''

759

(1)

``She replaced the receiver...''

760

(1)

``And I go about my own house...''

760

(1)

``No, not chess, not tennis...''

760

(1)

``It is terrifying to be praised by you...''

761

(1)

``And a strange companion was sent to me by hell...''

761

(1)

``I don't know what was guiding me...''

761

(1)

``There's no way for me to take flight...''

761

(1)

``You loved me and pitied me...''

762

(1)

``Stop it, I was like all of them...''

762

(1)

``And I have no claims...''

762

(1)

``Sooner than anything, love turns to mortal ashes...''

763

(1)

``... that rhymes with blood...''

763

(1)

To the Defenders of Stalin

763

(1)

``They swore by the Hammer and Sickle...''

764

(1)

``Not to a secret pavilion...''

764

(1)

``In sorrows, in passions...''

764

(1)

``Oh, how your grandfathers loved me...''

764

(1)

``The poet is not a person...''

765

(1)

``Don't lie to me, don't lie to me...''

765

(1)

``Soon I will leave you...''

765

(1)

``What is lurking in the mirror? Grief...''

765

(1)

``You cranks, you could have chosen...''

766

(1)

``By turning endings into beginnings...''

766

(1)

``Not in vain did I bear...''

766

(1)

``Waiting for him gives me more pleasure...''

766

(1)

``The hostess is rosy cheeked...''

767

(1)

To Music

767

(1)

``Luring with the Pied Piper's flute...''

767

(1)

``Speechlessness became my home...''

767

(1)

Music

768

(1)

Stravinsky's ``Jeremiah''

768

(1)

``And in the depths of music...''

768

(1)

``Don't give me anything to remember you by...''

769

(1)

``Pray, at night, that you won't...''

769

(1)

``...But there is no power more formidable...''

769

(1)

``Necessity herself has finally submitted...''

769

(2)

Notes to Poems

771

(100)

Notes to ``Mirrors and Masks''

871

(6)

Appendix: ``In Praise of Peace''

877

(10)

Index to Poems--By Source

887

(22)

Index of Titles & First Lines

909

(30)

Index of Proper Names

939

(6)

Select Bibliography

945

(4)

Biographical Notes

949

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