Anna Akhmatova

I don't like flowers - they do remind me often
Of funerals, of weddings and of balls;
Their presence on tables for a dinner calls.

But sub-eternal roses' ever simple charm
Which was my solace when I was a child,
Has stayed - my heritage - a set of years behind,
Like Mozart's ever-living music's hum.

Translated by Yevgeny Bonver, December, 2001
Edited by Dmitry Karshtedt, August, 2001