Anna Akhmatova

You will hear thunder and remember me, And think: she wanted storms. The rim Of the sky will be the colour of…

— Anna Akhmatova

“Today I have so much to do: I must kill memory once and for all, I must turn my soul to stone,…

— Anna Akhmatova

The word landed with a stony thud Onto my still-beating breast. Nevermind, I was prepared, I will manage with the rest. I…

— Anna Akhmatova

Sunset in the ethereal waves: I cannot tell if the day is ending, or the world, or if the secret of secrets…

— Anna Akhmatova

And it seemed to me that there were fires Flying till dawn without number And I never found out things-those Strange eyes…

— Anna Akhmatova

I have long had this premonition of a bright day and a deserted house

— Anna Akhmatova

We thought: we're poor, we have nothing, but when we started losing one after the other so each day became remembrance day,…

— Anna Akhmatova

As the future ripens in the past, so the past rots in the future -- a terrible festival of dead leaves.

— Anna Akhmatova

The stars of death stood over us. And Russia, guiltless, beloved, writhed under the crunch of bloodstained boots, under the wheels of…

— Anna Akhmatova

“I knew: the gods turned once, in their madness, Men into things, not killing humane senses. You’ve been turned in to my…

— Anna Akhmatova

“He loved three things alone: White peacocks, evensong, old maps of America. He hated children crying, and raspberry jam with his tea,…

— Anna Akhmatova

“Is this why, for countless days, In my arms I carried you, Is this why your strength had blazed Through your lively…

— Anna Akhmatova

The triumphs of a mysterious non-meeting are desolate ones; unspoken phrases, silent words.

— Anna Akhmatova

I seem to myself, as in a dream, Am accidental guest in this dreadful body.

— Anna Akhmatova

The celebrations Of secret nonmeetings are empty, Unspoken conversations, Unuttered words. Glances that don't intersect Don't know where to come to rest.…

— Anna Akhmatova

I know beginnings, I know endings too, and life-in-death, and something else I'd rather not recall just now.

— Anna Akhmatova

“None of the places where I grew up and live in my youth exist any longer: Tsarskoe Selo, Sevastopol, Kiev, Slepnyovo, Gungerburg…

— Anna Akhmatova

“Not under foreign skies Nor under foreign wings protected - I shared all this with my own people There, where misfortune had…

— Anna Akhmatova