Anna Akhmatova
And here I am, I stay alone...

And here I am, I stay alone
To count the empty days.
Oh my free friends,
Oh my swans!

And I won't call you with a song,
I won't return you with tears,
But in the evening at a doleful time
I'll mention you in prayer.

Caught by a deadly arrow,
One of you has fallen,
And another, kissing me,
Turned to a black raven.

But so it happens once a year,
When ice starts to thaw,
In Empress Catherine's garden
I stand by the pure waters

And hear the splash of wide wings
Above the blue smooth mass.
I don't know who flung the window wide
In the dungeon of the grave.

Translated by Sibelan Forrester