Anna Akhmatova

Let somebody else rest by southern sea,
Enjoying the paradise land,
It's northerly here, and fall of this year,
I chose to be my girl-friend.

I've carried here the memory sure
Of my last rejecting a date --
The flame, so cold, so easy and pure,
Of my overcoming the fate.

Translated by Yevgeny Bonver, October 1995
Edited by Dmitry Karshtedt, August 1996