You thought I was that type:
That you could forget me,
And that I'd plead and weep
And throw myself under the hooves of a bay mare,
Or that I'd ask the sorcerers
For some magic potion made from roots and send you a terrible gift:
My precious perfumed handkerchief.
Damn you! I will not grant your cursed soul
Vicarious tears or a single glance.
And I swear to you by the garden of the angels,
I swear by the miracle-working icon,
And by the fire and smoke of our nights:
I will never come back to you.
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Comments
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Fine free verse. Was it so, in Ukrainian?
From guest Ron Wiseman (contact)
She showed no pity. A beautiful lady without mercy; but of the real, world and strong in character. " And by the fire and smoke of our nights:" tells of matrimonial unhappiness that was clearly argumentative and possibly physical. Her defiance is salutary: I will never come back to you. I can picture my grandmother adopting this attitude. Of course, she did not need to. The "Damn you" is really meant. Go to a real, Hell. How often men assume that women lack spiritual muscle. I heard a man say the other dayn at a town meeting: "The gentle sex" and I cringed. Superb poem. Ron (Lyndon). -
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Russian writer
Though Anna A. was born, educated and married in Ukraine, her language was Russian. Such was the state of "little Russia", as Ukraine was called.
I think this was written as free verse, because the translators have been careful with her other poems to rhyme if they were rhymed. Akhmatova was known as a meticulous writer of forms.
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Been there
not back yet!
These are strong emotions. Anna does not mince words. -
wow- now this is anger and hate. I have written poems like this, but the imagry she uses to convey her raw emotion is brilliant.
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