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“Reading Hamlet” by Anna Akhmatova 🇷🇺 (23 Jun 18895 Mar 1966)
Translated from the Russian by Stanley Kunitz
A barren patch to the right of the cemetery.
Behind it a river flashing blue.
You said: “All right then, get thee to a nunnery,
Or go get married to a fool …”
It was the sort of thing that princes always say,
But these are words that one remembers.
May they flow a hundred centuries in a row
Like an ermine mantle from his shoulders.