Anna Akhmatova

Don�t pine your heart with fleeting worldly bliss,
Never be used to your sweet wife and house,
Take a last piece from your child�s dear mouth
To give to somebody, who needs.

And be a slave, submissive to a word
Of him, who was your foe � the sworn, rather,
And call a beast of wilderness your brother,
And wait for nothing from the Lord.

Translated by Yevgeny Bonver, January, 2002