“One goes in straightforward ways …” by Anna Akhmatova

“One goes in straightforward ways …” by Anna Akhmatova 🇷🇺 (23 Jun 1889 – 5 Mar 1966)

Translated from the Russian by Yevgeny Bonver

One goes in straightforward ways,

One in a circle roams:

Waits for a girl of his gone days,

Or for returning home.

But I do go—and woe is there—

By a way nor straight, nor broad,

But into never and nowhere,

Like trains—off the railroad.