A Sunday thought...

This was my favorite poem when I was a child...guess even at an early age I liked the idea of unrequited love. I like to go back and re-read it sometimes. She was an unbelievable poetess.

The translation is below. It's not perfect but it is the closest to the Russian version I have found.

Слава тебе, безысходная боль! 

Умер вчера сероглазый король.  

 Вечер осенний был душен и ал, 

Муж мой, вернувшись, спокойно сказал:  

 «Знаешь, с охоты его принесли, 

Тело у старого дуба нашли.  

 Жаль королеву. Такой молодой!.. 

За ночь одну она стала седой».   

Трубку свою на камине нашел 

И на работу ночную ушел.  

 Дочку мою я сейчас разбужу, 

В серые глазки ее погляжу.  

 А за окном шелестят тополя: 

«Нет на земле твоего короля...»

Hail! Hail to thee, o, immovable pain! 
The young grey-eyed king had been yesterday slain.  
This autumnal evening was stuffy and red. 
My husband, returning, had quietly said,  
"He'd left for his hunting; they carried him home;
They'd found him under the old oak's dome.  
I pity the queen. He, so young, past away!... 
During onenight her black hair turned to grey."  
He found his pipe on a warm fire-place, 
And quietly left for his usual race.  
Now my daughter will wake up and rise -- 
Mother will look in her dear grey eyes...  
And poplars by windows rustle as sing,
"Never again will you see your young king..."  

Anna Akhmatova 1910