Anna Akhmatova
And beyond the barbed wire...

And beyond the barbed wire,
In the very heart of the dense taiga —
I don't know what year it is —,
Having become a handful of camp dust,
Having become a legend from a terrible true story,
My double goes to an interrogation.
And then it conies from the interrogation,
With two envoys of the noseless Wench
Destined to guard it.
And I hear even from here —
Isn't it a miracle! —
The sounds of my voice:
    For you I paid
                                                         In cash,
For exactly ten years I walked
                                                         Under a revolver,
    Not to the left or the right
                                                         Did I look
While behind me ill fame
                                                         Rustled.

Translated by Susan Amert