Innokenty Annensky
To my sister

To A. N. Annenskaya

Evening. The green nursery with
Its low ceiling, the boring
German book, Nurse in
Spectacles, with her stocking.

It is as though I could see the
Novel-yellow, in a cheap
Edition... I might even read the
Title if it were not for this fog.

You were still Alina, with a pink
Musing in your eyes, in a dress
With a large cape, and with a gray
Shawl over your shoulders...

Squatting on my knees in a chair,
I did not take my eyes off you;
I loved your gentle hands
With their fine veins.

The stream of incomprehensible
Words was music of the spheres
To me... where I awaited the
Shock of your special r's...

In the copper candlestick Nurse’s
Tallow candle is guttering...
Dear to me, quietly sad, all
This lives on in my heart...

Translated by R. H. Morrison