This is another one of my own translations. It’s about Kiev, my home. This poem was originally published in a collection entitled “White Flock,” in 1917. The poem itself appears to have been written in 1914. The statue of Vladimir the Christener still stands over the River Dnipro, just like it did when Akhmatova described it.
The ancient city as though dead,
And my arrival here feels odd.
And Vladimir over his river
Has raised a pitch-dark cross.Standing darkly in the gardens –
The noisy linden-trees and elms,
As starlight brings upward to God
Its needled gems.My ruinous, splendid journey
I will end here at this time.
But all I have is you, my twin,
And this love of mine.– Anna Akhmatova, 1914.
Translated by Natalia Antonova, 2006.
Natalia A. 