ANNA AKHMATOVA: "I Was So Praying...."
"I Was So Praying...."
1913
I was so praying: “Quench, Oh Lord,
My deepened thirst of the song-singing!”
But for the worldly in the world
There’s no a chance of any freeing.
Like altar’s smoke that couldn’t flee
Up to the famous throne Father’s –
But only floats by the feet,
Kissing worshipfully the grasses, –
Such I kiss grounds yours, Oh God!
Will ever touch the Heavens’ fire
The lashes of my eyes, strong-closed,
And this strange dumbness, to admire?
Translated by Yevgeny Bonver, September, 2002