Anna Akhmatova
I won’t beg for your love...

I won’t beg for your love.
It’s safely laid aside….
I won’t be penning jealous
Letters to your bride.
But be wise, take my advice:
Give her my poems to read,
Give her my photos beside —
Be kind to the newly-wed!
Oh, knowledge is better for geese,
Feeling they’ve won completely,
Than sweet companionable speech,
Or a tender first-night memory…
And when you’ve spent all your
Kopecks of joy with your dear friend,
And your spirit’s sated with it all,
And suddenly you’re ashamed —
Don’t come — I’ll fail to know you —
To me, night’s crestfallen guest.
For how could I help you?
I’ve no cure for happiness.

Translated by A. S. Kline