Poetry Chaikhana
Sacred Poetry from Around the World

Secular or Eclectic

20th Century

About Anna Akhmatova

Timeline (1889 - 1966)

Anna Akhmatova, Anna Akhmatova poetry, Secular or Eclectic, Secular or Eclectic poetry, poetry, [TRADITION SUB2] poetry, poetry

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English version by
Stanley Kunitz

Original Language
Russian

Everything is plundered, betrayed, sold,

Themes

Heart

Night

Sky

Recommended Books

	Women in Praise of the Sacred: 43 Centuries of Spiritual Poetry by Women, Edited by Jane Hirshfield

Everything is plundered, betrayed, sold,
Death's great black wing scrapes the air,
Misery gnaws to the bone.
Why then do we not despair?

By day, from the surrounding woods,
cherries blow summer into town;
at night the deep transparent skies
glitter with new galaxies.

And the miraculous comes so close
to the ruined, dirty houses --
something not known to anyone at all,
but wild in our breast for centuries.

1921

-- from Women in Praise of the Sacred: 43 Centuries of Spiritual Poetry by Women, Edited by Jane Hirshfield

Amazon.com

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Poetry Chaikhana Sacred Poetry from Around the World

About Anna Akhmatova

Poetry Chaikhana
Sacred Poetry from Around the World