“But I warn you, I am living for the last time …” by Anna Akhmatova

“But I warn you, I am living for the last time …” by Anna Akhmatova 🇷🇺 (23 Jun 1889 – 5 Mar 1966)

Translated from the Russian by & Donald Michael Thomas

But I warn you,

I am living for the last time.

Not as a swallow, not as a maple,

Not as a reed nor as a star,

Not as water from a spring,

Not as bells in a tower—

Shall I return to trouble you

Nor visit other people’s dreams

With lamentation.