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Home  »  Modern Russian Poetry  »  Anna Akhmatova

Deutsch and Yarmolinsky, comps. Modern Russian Poetry. 1921.

Confession

Anna Akhmatova

FROM my poor sins I am set free.

In lilac dusk the taper smolders;

The dark stole’s rigid drapery

Conceals a massive head and shoulders.

“Talitha kumi”: Is it He

Once more? How fast the heart is beating…

A touch: a hand moves absently

The customary cross repeating.