CURRENT MOON

Sunday, June 18, 2006

Sunday Akhmatova Blogging


"In Human Closeness There..."
In human closeness there is a secret edge,
That love nor passion ever rise above,
Let lips with lips be joined in silent rage,
And hearts be burst asunder with their love.

And friendship, too, is powerless against this secret edge,
And so years of bliss pass gently by,
When your heart is free and hidden by a hedge,
Enjoying slow languor of the earthy sense.

And they who strive to reach this edge are mad,
And those who reach are shocked with anguish hard --
Now you know why beneath your hand
You do not feel the beating of my heart.


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

I've tweaked this quite a bit to try and make it make sense to me. The last line of the second stanza is incomprehensible and I've left it alone. I sort of know what she's trying to say here, but this is another of her works that I simply don't think can be really translated.

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