Anna Akhmatova
In the looking glass

The beautiful girl is very young,
But belongs to another era.
The two of us cannot be together —
A third one, she, won't leave us alone.
You pull up an armchair for her,
Generously I divide my bouquet...
What we are doing, we ourselves can't say,
But are filled with growing terror.
Like people who have been set free
From prison, we know something shameful
About each other. We are caught in a circle of hell,
Although, perhaps, it is not we.

Translated by Daniel Weissbort