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Quotes from Poem without a Hero — Anna Akhmatova

1889–1966 Russia

← All quotes by Anna Akhmatova

9 quotes

He is no better and no worse,
but he is free of Lethe's curse:
his warm hand makes a human pledge.

Poem without a Hero (1963)

I have lit my treasured candles,
one by one, to hallow this night.

Poem without a Hero (1963)

There is no death, each of us knows —
it's banal to say.
I'll leave it to others to explain.

Poem without a Hero (1963)

Besides
what have poets, in any case, to do with sin?
They must dance before the Ark of the Covenant
or die! But what am I trying to say?

Poem without a Hero (1963)

From childhood I have been afraid
of mummers. It always seemed
an extra shadow
without face or name
had slipped among them...

Poem without a Hero (1963)

You...
you are as old as the Mamre oak,
ancient interrogator of the moon,
whose feigned groans cannot take us in.
You write laws of iron.

Poem without a Hero (1963)

That woman I once was,
in a black agate necklace,
I do not wish to meet again
till the Day of Judgement.

Poem without a Hero (1963)

Dread. Bottomless dread...
I am that shadow on the threshold
defending my remnant peace.

Poem without a Hero (1963)

Prince Charming, prince of the mockers —
compared with him the foulest of sinners
is grace incarnate...

Poem without a Hero (1963)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Anna Akhmatova (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.