When you're drunk it's so much fun --
Your stories don't make sense.
An early fall has strung
The elms with yellow flags.

We've strayed into the land of deceit
And we're repenting bitterly,
Why then are we smiling these
Strange and frozen smiles?

We wanted piercing anguish
Instead of placid happiness. . .
I won't abandon my comrade,
So dissolute and mild.

1911 (Paris)
-- translated by Judith Hemschemeyer
And a brief comment from:

[link|http://dybka.home.mindspring.com/jill/akhmatova/|About the poet]
Anna Andreevna Akhmatova (1889-1966)
"Anna Andreevna Akhmatova used poetry to give voice to the struggles and deepest yearnings of the Russian people, for whom she remains the greatest of literary heroines. She has lately come to symbolize for the world even beyond Russia the power of art to survive and transcend the terrors of our century."
Judith Hemschemeyer, A Stranger to Heaven and Earth


Thanks for reminding about her.

A.