Anna Akhmatova - A land not mine

[thegreatxavier.livejournal.com]

A land not mine, still
forever memorable,
the waters of its ocean
chill and fresh.

Sand on the bottom whiter than chalk,
and the air drunk, like wine,
late sun lays bare
the rosy limbs of the pinetrees.

Sunset in the ethereal waves:
I cannot tell if the day
is ending, or the world, or if
the secret of secrets is inside me again.

1964 (Trans. Jane Kenyon)

Comments

[teithiwr.livejournal.com]

Oh that is lovely.

[thegreatxavier.livejournal.com]

Russia/Odessa. Check out her wikipedia.

[devaretha.livejournal.com]

That last stanza is a doozy. Gorgeous.

[thegreatxavier.livejournal.com]

Well maybe because they are both about social critique in the guise of nationalism via landscape poetry?

That's my theory. What do you think?