Anna Akhmatova
The Song of the Last Assignation

Such a numbness overcame me —
my heart felt nothing —
yet I left, self-possessed,
rapid and deft my steps —
I did, however, attempt
to pull my left hand glove
over my right.

It was three steps down to the courtyard,
though they seemed to go on and on.
A whisper in the leaves of the maples,
asked whether I too wouldn’t like to die.

Autumn said, “I too was betrayed,
as I always am, deceived, cruelly fooled,
believing each year anew
the old, old sophistries of June.”
I answered, “Sweet season, I know,
dear dying time, I feel as you do.”

This duet was the song of my last assignation.
I stared back at his house, all dark
except for the windows of the master bedroom
where candles glowed their same yellow
as though nothing at all had changed.

Translated by Seraphina Powell