How many demands the beloved can make!
The woman discarded, none.
How glad I am that today the water
Under the colorless ice is motionless.
And I stand -- Christ help me! --
On this shroud that is brittle and bright,
But save my letters
So that our descendants can decide,
So that you, courageous and wise,
Will be seen by them with greater clarity.
Perhaps we may leave some gaps
In your glorious biography?
Too sweet is earthly drink,
Too tight the nets of love.
Sometime let the children read
My name in their lesson book,
And on learning the sad story,
Let them smile shyly. . .
Since you've given me neither love nor peace
Grant me bitter glory.
1913
-- translated by Judith Hemschemeyer
*************************************************************************************
Well, this one speaks pretty directly to me. I've been where Akhmatova was when she wrote this. I think it's the same place that Stevie Nicks was in when she sang, "And sometimes...when they ask her about the men in her life...she says, 'well, they are poets...and yet they are priests of nothing...aah, but they are legends.' And I thought that there was a...connection."
~Stevie Nicks, live version ending to Has Anyone Ever Written Anything for You/Live From Red Rocks, 1986
And if I ever find a recording or an mp3 of that live performance, BTW, I am going to be the happiest woman on earth.
My generaton of women may be, please the Goddess, the last generation of women who get sold that lovely opium dream of living through a great man, of being muse to a great poet.
2 comments:
Hecate!
Mrs. Gummo is a Stevie Nicks FANATIC and I am almost positive she has Red Rocks '86 on CD.
Email me with an address and we will happily copy it for you (assuming I'm right, of course).
Gummo
bjacobs73@optonline.net
My generaton of women may be, please the Goddess, the last generation of women who get sold that lovely opium dream of living through a great man, of being muse to a great poet.
How bittersweet it is to read your words. Your posts are interesting and thought-provoking.
This is the kind of thinking that spawned a comment I received from my Stanford-educated father when I didn't know what kind of major I wanted to pursue in college: "I just hate to see you take the place of some young man who will be supporting a family." Being the "good girl," I stepped back from the educational plate.
My sister, however, had the back bone to stand up to him 5 years later and demand an education. When he wouldn't comply, she got a family member to support her at USC. I give her kudos for that. As for me, I became a secretary and worked in the corporate world for the next 30 years. A secretary also lives through her boss's prestige.
At this point in my life, I've made my peace with myself for lacking the gumption. I think we get the lives we deserve. The best we can do is make lemonade and I've spent the last several years doing just that.
Post a Comment