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Reflections of a working writer and reader

 

 

Two Poems

john baker, June 23rd, 2010. 3 comments. Filed under literature, quotations.

Two Poems
By Anna Akhmatova
Translated by Jane Kenyon

Everything promised him to me:
the fading amber edge of the sky,
and the sweet dreams of Christmas,
and the wind at Easter, loud with bells,

and the red shoots of the grapevine,
and waterfalls in the park,
and two large dragonflies
on the rusty iron fencepost.

And I could only believe
that he would be mine
as I walked along the high slopes,
the path of burning stones.

——-

Like a white stone in a deep well
one memory lies inside me.
I cannot and will not fight against it:
it is joy and it is pain.

It seems to me that anyone who looks into my eyes will notice it immediately,
becoming sadder and more pensive
than someone listening to a melancholy tale.

I remember how the gods turned people
into things, not killing their consciousness.
And now, to keep those glorious sorrows alive,
you have turned into my memory of you.

From A Hundred White Daffodils, work by Jane Kenyon, published by Graywolf Press.
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3 Responses to “Two Poems”

  1. Dick says:
    26th June 2010 at 7:47 am

    Beautiful, both.

  2. adnan zuberi says:
    28th June 2010 at 8:22 pm

    intrinsic, within memory.

  3. Two Poems – pesbo says:
    6th July 2010 at 3:20 pm

    […] out the entirely of this second untitled poem of By Anna Akhmatova translated by Jane Kenyon… “one memory lies inside me./ I cannot and will not fight against it:/ it is joy and it […]