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“Drink my soul, as if with a straw …” by Anna Akhmatova 🇷🇺 (23 Jun 1889 – 5 Mar 1966)
Translated from the Russian by A. S. Kline
Drink my soul, as if with a straw
I know it’s bitter, intoxicating taste.
I won’t disturb the torment with pleading,
Oh, for weeks now I’ve been at peace.
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Tell me, when you’re done. No sadness,
That my soul’s no more of this world.
I’ll walk down that road nearby
And see how children play.
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The gooseberries are in flower,
And they’re carting bricks by the fence,
Who are you, my brother, my lover,
I don’t know now, or need to know.
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How bright it is here, and bare,
My body, tired, rests …
The passers-by thinking vaguely:
Yes, she was widowed yesterday.