Sunday Akhmatova Blogging
Anna Akhmatova of Russia:
THE FIRST LONG RANGE ARTILLERY FIRE ON LENINGRAD
A multi-colored crowd streaked about,
and suddenly all was totally changed.
It wasn't the usual city racket.
It came from a strange land.
True, it was akin to some random claps of thunder,
but natural thunder heralds the wetness of fresh water [and]
high clouds
to quench the thirst of fields gone dry and parched,
a messenger of blessed rain,
but this was as dry as hell must be.
My distraught perception refused
to believe it, because of the insane
suddenness with which it sounded, swelled and hit,
and how casually it came
to murder my child.
[Translation Copyright © 1993 by DanielaGioseffi. All rights reserved.]
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