Songs

O Muza placha, prekrasneishaya iz muz!
O Muse of weeping, most beautiful of the muses!
O ty, shalnoye ischadiye nochi beloi!
O you reckless offspring of a white night!
Ty chyornuyu nasylyesh metel na Rus,
You unleash a black blizzard on Russia,
I vopli tvoi vonzayutsya v nas, kak strely.
And your howls pierce us, like arrows.

I my sharakhayemsya, i glukhoye: okh!
And we shrink back, and a mute “oh” is uttered
Stotysyachnoye – tebe prisyagayet. Anna
By hundreds of thousands in allegiance to you. Anna
Akhmatova! Eto imya – ogromnyi vzdokh,
Akhmatova! This name is an immense sigh,
I v glub on padayet, kotoraya bezymyanna.
Which falls into the void which is without name.

My koronavany tem, shto odnu s toboi
We are crowned by the fact that we tread
My zemlyu topchem, shto nebo nad nami – to zhe!
The same earth as you, that above us is the same sky!
I tot, kto ranen smertelnoi tvoyei sudboi,
And those who are wounded by your mortal fate
Uzhe bessmertnym na smertnoye skhodit lozhe.
Will descend in immortality to their deathbeds.

V pevuchem grade moyom kupola goryat,
In my city of songs, the domes burn brightly,
I Spasa svetlovo slavit slepets brodyachii …
And a blind wanderer glorifies the radiant Saviour…
I ya daryu svoi kolokolnyi grad,
And I bestow on you my city of bells,
– Akhmatova! – I serdtse svoyo v pridachu.
– Akhmatova! – Along with my heart as well.