Read the requiem poem in full. Anna Akhmatova, "Requiem": analysis of the work


No! and not under alien firmament
And not under the protection of alien wings, -
I was then with my people,
Where my people, unfortunately, were.

INSTEAD OF A FOREWORD

During the terrible years of the Yezhovshchina, I spent seventeen months in prison lines in Leningrad. One day someone “identified” me. Then a woman with blue lips standing behind me, who, of course, had never heard my name in her life, woke up from the stupor that is characteristic of us all and asked me in my ear (everyone there spoke in a whisper):

– Can you describe this?

And I said:

Then something like a smile crossed what had once been her face.

DEDICATION


Mountains bend before this grief,
The great river does not flow
But the prison gates are strong,
And behind them are “convict holes”
And mortal melancholy.
For someone the wind is blowing fresh,
For some, basking in the sunset -
We don't know, we're the same everywhere
We only hear the hateful grinding of keys
Yes, the soldiers' steps are heavy.
They rose as if to early mass,
They walked through the wild capital,
There we met, more lifeless dead,
The sun is lower and the Neva is foggy,
And hope still sings in the distance.
The verdict... And immediately tears will flow,
Already separated from everyone,
As if with pain the life was taken out of the heart,
As if rudely knocked over,
But she walks... She staggers... Alone.
Where are the involuntary friends now?
My two crazy years?
What do they imagine in the Siberian blizzard?
What do they see in the lunar circle?
To them I send my farewell greetings.

INTRODUCTION


It was when I smiled
Only dead, glad for the peace.
And swayed with an unnecessary pendant
Leningrad is near its prisons.
And when, maddened by torment,
The already condemned regiments were marching,
And a short song of parting
The locomotive whistles sang,
Death stars stood above us
And innocent Rus' writhed
Under bloody boots
And under the black tires there is marusa.

1


They took you away at dawn
I followed you, as if on a takeaway,
Children were crying in the dark room,
The goddess's candle floated.
There are cold icons on your lips,
Death sweat on the brow... Don't forget!
I will be like the Streltsy wives,
Howl under the Kremlin towers.

Autumn 1935, Moscow

2


The quiet Don flows quietly,
The yellow moon enters the house.

He walks in with his hat tilted.
Sees the yellow moon shadow.

This woman is sick
This woman is alone.

Husband in the grave, son in prison,
Pray for me.

3


No, it's not me, it's someone else who's suffering,
I couldn't do that, but what happened
Let the black cloth cover
And let the lanterns be taken away...
Night.

4


I should show you, mocker
And the favorite of all friends,
To the cheerful sinner of Tsarskoye Selo,
What will happen to your life -
Like a three hundredth, with transmission,
You will stand under the Crosses
And with your hot tears
Burn through New Year's ice.
There the prison poplar sways,
And not a sound - but how much is there
Innocent lives are ending...

end of introductory fragment

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Mountains bend before this grief,
The great river does not flow
But the prison gates are strong,
And behind them are “convict holes”
And mortal melancholy.
For someone the wind is blowing fresh,
For someone the sunset is basking -
We don't know, we're the same everywhere
We only hear the hateful grinding of keys
Yes, the soldiers' steps are heavy.
They rose as if to early mass,
They walked through the wild capital,
There we met, more lifeless dead,
The sun is lower and the Neva is foggy,
And hope still sings in the distance.
The verdict... And immediately tears will flow,
Already separated from everyone,
As if with pain the life was taken out of the heart,
As if rudely knocked over,
But she walks... She staggers... Alone...
Where are the involuntary friends now?
My two crazy years?
What do they imagine in the Siberian blizzard?
What do they see in the lunar circle?
To them I send my farewell greetings.

Introduction

It was when I smiled
Only dead, glad for the peace.
And swayed with an unnecessary pendant
Leningrad is near its prisons.
And when, maddened by torment,
The already condemned regiments were marching,
And a short song of parting
The locomotive whistles sang,
Death stars stood above us
And innocent Rus' writhed
Under bloody boots
And under the black tires there is marusa.

They took you away at dawn
I followed you, as if on a takeaway,
Children were crying in the dark room,
The goddess's candle floated.
There are cold icons on your lips,
Death sweat on the brow... Don't forget!
I will be like the Streltsy wives,
Howl under the Kremlin towers.

The quiet Don flows quietly,
The yellow moon enters the house.

He walks in with his hat on one side,
Sees the yellow moon shadow.

This woman is sick
This woman is alone.

Husband in the grave, son in prison,
Pray for me.

No, it's not me, it's someone else who is suffering.
I couldn't do that, but what happened
Let the black cloth cover
And let the lanterns be taken away...
Night.
4

I should show you, mocker
And the favorite of all friends,
To the cheerful sinner of Tsarskoye Selo,
What will happen to your life -
Like a three hundredth, with transmission,
You will stand under the Crosses
And with my hot tears
Burn through New Year's ice.
There the prison poplar sways,
And not a sound - but how much is there
Innocent lives are ending...

I've been screaming for seventeen months,
I'm calling you home
I threw myself at the feet of the executioner,
You are my son and my horror.
Everything's messed up forever
And I can't make it out
Now, who is the beast, who is the man,
And how long will it be to wait for execution?
And only dusty flowers
And the censer ringing, and the traces
Somewhere to nowhere.
And he looks straight into my eyes
And it threatens with imminent death
A huge star.

Lungs fly for weeks,
I don’t understand what happened.
How do you like going to jail, son?
The white nights looked
How they look again
With the hot eye of a hawk,
About your high cross
And they talk about death.

Sentence

And the stone word fell
On my still living chest.
It's okay, because I was ready
I'll deal with this somehow.

I have a lot to do today:
We must completely kill our memory,
It is necessary for the soul to turn to stone,
We must learn to live again.

Otherwise... The hot rustle of summer,
It's like a holiday outside my window.
I've been anticipating this for a long time
Bright day and empty house.

To death

You will come anyway - why not now?
I'm waiting for you - it's very difficult for me.
I turned off the light and opened the door
To you, so simple and wonderful.
Take any form for this,
Burst with a poisoned shell
Or sneak up with a weight like an experienced bandit,
Or poison with typhus child.
Or a fairy tale invented by you
And sickeningly familiar to everyone, -
So that I can see the top of the blue hat
And the building manager, pale with fear.
I don't care now. The Yenisei swirls,
The North Star is shining.
And the blue sparkle of beloved eyes
The final horror is overshadowing.

Madness is already on the wing
Half of my soul was covered,
And drinks fiery wine
And beckons to the black valley.

And I realized that he
I must concede victory
Listening to your
Already like someone else's delirium.

And won't allow anything
I should take it with me
(No matter how you beg him
And no matter how you bother me with prayer):

Nor the son's terrible eyes -
Petrified suffering
Not the day when the thunderstorm came,
Not an hour of prison visiting,

Not the sweet coolness of your hands,
Not a single linden shadow,
Not a distant light sound -
Words of last consolation.

Crucifixion

Don't cry to me, Mati,
in the tomb of those who see.

The choir of angels praised the great hour,
And the skies melted in fire.
He said to his father: “Why did you leave me!”

Magdalene fought and cried,
The beloved student turned to stone,
And where Mother stood silently,
So no one dared to look.

Epilogue

I learned how faces fall,
How fear peeks out from under your eyelids,
Like cuneiform hard pages
Suffering appears on the cheeks,
Like curls of ashen and black
They suddenly become silver,
The smile fades on the lips of the submissive,
And fear trembles in the dry laugh.
And I’m not praying for myself alone,
And about everyone who stood there with me,
And in the bitter cold and in the July heat
Under the blinding red wall.

Once again the funeral hour approached.
I see, I hear, I feel you:

And the one that was barely brought to the window,
And the one that does not trample the earth for the dear one,

And the one who shook her beautiful head,
She said: “Coming here is like coming home.”

I would like to call everyone by name,
Yes, the list was taken away, and there is no place to find out.

For them I wove a wide cover
From the poor, they have overheard words.

I remember them always and everywhere,
I won’t forget about them even in a new trouble,

And if they shut my exhausted mouth,
To which a hundred million people shout,

May they remember me in the same way
On the eve of my memorial day.

And if ever in this country
They are planning to erect a monument to me,

I give my consent to this triumph,
But only with the condition - do not put it

Not near the sea where I was born:
The last connection with the sea is severed,

Not in the royal garden near the treasured stump,
Where the inconsolable shadow is looking for me,

And here, where I stood for three hundred hours
And where they didn’t open the bolt for me.

Then, even in the blessed death I am afraid
Forget the rumble of the black marus,

Forget how hateful the door slammed
And the old woman howled like a wounded animal.

And let from the motionless and Bronze Ages
Melted snow flows like tears,

And let the prison dove drone in the distance,
And the ships sail quietly along the Neva.

Analysis of the poem "Requiem" by Akhmatova

About a terrible period Stalin's repressions A lot of scientific research has been written. Many are dedicated to him works of art. Among them, the most vivid are personal memories and impressions of direct witnesses of these events. A. Akhmatova felt all the pain and fear produced by this “bloody meat grinder.” Poem "Requiem" via personal experience the poetess conveys all the horror of those years.

The poem was created over a long period of time. The introduction and the first part were written in 1935, immediately after the first arrest of Akhmatova’s only son, Lev. The poetess, with the help of Bulgakov, wrote a letter personally to Stalin and achieved the release of her son, but the punitive authorities did not leave them alone. In 1938 there was a second arrest. This time, Akhmatova’s humiliated plea did not bring results. Lev was sentenced to exile in Siberian camps. For two years, the poetess continued to create a poem, which became her intimate diary, reflecting all her feelings and experiences. Under conditions of total control, Akhmatova did not dare to write down the poem. She memorized the lines and read them only to those closest to her.

The plot of the poem “Requiem” is based on Akhmatova’s time in the prison line. She spent almost a year and a half in such queues. In this humiliated expectation there were many mothers and wives thrown out of society for the trumped-up crimes of their men. In the preface to the poem, Akhmatova recalls that one woman recognized her in the queue and asked her to describe what was happening.

In the “Dedication” that precedes the poem, the poetess describes her heavy, stone-like grief that gripped her soul immediately after the verdict was pronounced. She greets her “unwitting friends” in the prison line, who now find themselves forever bound by a common misfortune.

"Requiem" does not have a clear chronology. Parts are marked with dates, but they are inconsistent. It doesn't matter much. Two terrible years are perceived as a holistic picture of a personal tragedy against the backdrop of nationwide grief. Some main motives of the work can be identified.

Akhmatova emphasizes the enormous scale of repression through the number (“convicted regiments”) and historical parallels (“Rus writhed,” “streltsy wives”). The poetess uses religious symbolism. In a country of triumphant atheism, faith acts as another victim of the regime. Part of the poem “The Crucifixion” is completely devoted to this, in which the suffering of all mothers is touchingly compared with the grief of the Virgin Mary.

Towards the end, the motive of doom and the impossibility of any resistance grows in the poem. Akhmatova sees salvation only in death, but suspects that it will not provide final deliverance from all-consuming fear. The poetess believes that the best recognition of her services to Russian poetry will be a monument near the prison walls, which will be an eternal reminder to those living of that terrible and merciless time.

Dedication

Mountains bend before this grief,
The great river does not flow
But the prison gates are strong,
And behind them are “convict holes”
And mortal melancholy.
For someone the wind is blowing fresh,
For someone basking in the sunset -
We don't know, we're the same everywhere
We only hear the hateful grinding of keys
Yes, the soldiers' steps are heavy.
They rose as if to early mass,
They walked through the wild capital,
There we met, more lifeless dead,
The sun is lower and the Neva is foggy,
And hope still sings in the distance.
The verdict... And immediately tears will flow,
Already separated from everyone,
As if with pain the life was taken out of the heart,
As if rudely knocked over,
But she walks... She staggers... Alone...
Where are the involuntary friends now?
My two crazy years?
What do they imagine in the Siberian blizzard?
What do they see in the lunar circle?
To them I send my farewell greetings.

Introduction

It was when I smiled
Only dead, glad for the peace.
And swayed with an unnecessary pendant
Leningrad is near its prisons.
And when, maddened by torment,
The already condemned regiments were marching,
And a short song of parting
The locomotive whistles sang,
Death stars stood above us
And innocent Rus' writhed
Under bloody boots
And under the black tires there is marusa.

They took you away at dawn
I followed you, as if on a takeaway,
Children were crying in the dark room,
The goddess's candle floated.
There are cold icons on your lips,
Death sweat on the brow... Don't forget!
I will be like the Streltsy wives,
Howl under the Kremlin towers.

The quiet Don flows quietly,
The yellow moon enters the house.

He walks in with his hat on one side,
Sees the yellow moon shadow.

This woman is sick
This woman is alone.

Husband in the grave, son in prison,
Pray for me.

No, it's not me, it's someone else who is suffering.
I couldn't do that, but what happened
Let the black cloth cover
And let the lanterns be taken away...
Night.
4

I should show you, mocker
And the favorite of all friends,
To the cheerful sinner of Tsarskoye Selo,
What will happen to your life -
Like a three hundredth, with transmission,
You will stand under the Crosses
And with my hot tears
Burn through New Year's ice.
There the prison poplar sways,
And not a sound - but how much is there
Innocent lives are ending...

I've been screaming for seventeen months,
I'm calling you home
I threw myself at the feet of the executioner,
You are my son and my horror.
Everything's messed up forever
And I can't make it out
Now, who is the beast, who is the man,
And how long will it be to wait for execution?
And only dusty flowers
And the censer ringing, and the traces
Somewhere to nowhere.
And he looks straight into my eyes
And it threatens with imminent death
A huge star.

Lungs fly for weeks,
I don’t understand what happened.
How do you like going to jail, son?
The white nights looked
How they look again
With the hot eye of a hawk,
About your high cross
And they talk about death.

Sentence

And the stone word fell
On my still living chest.
It's okay, because I was ready
I'll deal with this somehow.

I have a lot to do today:
We must completely kill our memory,
It is necessary for the soul to turn to stone,
We must learn to live again.

Otherwise... The hot rustle of summer,
It's like a holiday outside my window.
I've been anticipating this for a long time
Bright day and empty house.

To death

You will come anyway - why not now?
I'm waiting for you - it's very difficult for me.
I turned off the light and opened the door
To you, so simple and wonderful.
Take any form for this,
Burst with a poisoned shell
Or sneak up with a weight like an experienced bandit,
Or poison with typhus child.
Or a fairy tale invented by you
And sickeningly familiar to everyone, -
So that I can see the top of the blue hat
And the building manager, pale with fear.
I don't care now. The Yenisei swirls,
The North Star is shining.
And the blue sparkle of beloved eyes
The final horror is overshadowing.

Madness is already on the wing
Half of my soul was covered,
And drinks fiery wine
And beckons to the black valley.

And I realized that he
I must concede victory
Listening to your
Already like someone else's delirium.

And won't allow anything
I should take it with me
(No matter how you beg him
And no matter how you bother me with prayer):

Nor the son's terrible eyes -
Petrified suffering
Not the day when the thunderstorm came,
Not an hour of prison visiting,

Not the sweet coolness of your hands,
Not a single linden shadow,
Not a distant light sound -
Words of last consolation.

Crucifixion

Don't cry to me, Mati,
in the tomb of those who see.

The choir of angels praised the great hour,
And the skies melted in fire.
He said to his father: “Why did you leave me!”
And to the Mother: “Oh, don’t cry for Me...”

Magdalene fought and cried,
The beloved student turned to stone,
And where Mother stood silently,
So no one dared to look.

Epilogue

I learned how faces fall,
How fear peeks out from under your eyelids,
Like cuneiform hard pages
Suffering appears on the cheeks,
Like curls of ashen and black
They suddenly become silver,
The smile fades on the lips of the submissive,
And fear trembles in the dry laugh.
And I’m not praying for myself alone,
And about everyone who stood there with me,
And in the bitter cold and in the July heat
Under the blinding red wall.

Once again the funeral hour approached.
I see, I hear, I feel you:

And the one that was barely brought to the window,
And the one that does not trample the earth for the dear one,

And the one who shook her beautiful head,
She said: “Coming here is like coming home.”

I would like to call everyone by name,
Yes, the list was taken away, and there is no place to find out.

For them I wove a wide cover
From the poor, they have overheard words.

I remember them always and everywhere,
I won’t forget about them even in a new trouble,

And if they shut my exhausted mouth,
To which a hundred million people shout,

May they remember me in the same way
On the eve of my memorial day.

And if ever in this country
They are planning to erect a monument to me,

I give my consent to this triumph,
But only with the condition - do not put it

Not near the sea where I was born:
The last connection with the sea is severed,

Not in the royal garden near the treasured stump,
Where the inconsolable shadow is looking for me,

And here, where I stood for three hundred hours
And where they didn’t open the bolt for me.

Then, even in the blessed death I am afraid
Forget the rumble of the black marus,

Forget how hateful the door slammed
And the old woman howled like a wounded animal.

And let from the still and bronze ages
Melted snow flows like tears,

And let the prison dove drone in the distance,
And the ships sail quietly along the Neva.

Analysis of the poem "Requiem" by Akhmatova

A lot of scientific research has been written about the terrible period of Stalin’s repressions. Many works of art are dedicated to him. Among them, the most vivid are personal memories and impressions of direct witnesses of these events. A. Akhmatova felt all the pain and fear produced by this “bloody meat grinder.” The poem “Requiem” conveys all the horror of those years through the poetess’s personal experience.

The poem was created over a long period of time. The introduction and the first part were written in 1935, immediately after the first arrest of Akhmatova’s only son, Lev. The poetess, with the help of Pasternak, wrote a letter personally to Stalin and achieved the release of her son, but the punitive authorities did not leave them alone. In 1938 there was a second arrest. This time, Akhmatova’s humiliating plea did not bring results. Lev was sentenced to exile in Siberian camps. For two years, the poetess continued to create a poem, which became her intimate diary, reflecting all her feelings and experiences. Under conditions of total control, Akhmatova did not dare to write down the poem. She memorized the lines and read them only to those closest to her.

The plot of the poem “Requiem” is based on Akhmatova’s time in the prison line. She spent almost a year and a half in such queues. In this humiliated expectation there were many mothers and wives thrown out of society for the trumped-up crimes of their men. In the preface to the poem, Akhmatova recalls that one woman recognized her in the queue and asked her to describe what was happening.

In the “Dedication” that precedes the poem, the poetess describes her heavy, stone-like grief that gripped her soul immediately after the verdict was pronounced. She greets her “unwitting friends” in the prison line, who now find themselves forever bound by a common misfortune.

"Requiem" does not have a clear chronology. Parts are marked with dates, but they are inconsistent. It doesn't matter much. Two terrible years are perceived as a holistic picture of a personal tragedy against the backdrop of nationwide grief. Some main motives of the work can be identified.

Akhmatova emphasizes the enormous scale of repression through the number (“convicted regiments”) and historical parallels (“Rus writhed,” “streltsy wives”). The poetess uses religious symbolism. In a country of triumphant atheism, faith acts as another victim of the regime. Part of the poem “The Crucifixion” is completely devoted to this, in which the suffering of all mothers is touchingly compared with the grief of the Virgin Mary.

Towards the end, the motive of doom and the impossibility of any resistance grows in the poem. Akhmatova sees salvation only in death, but suspects that it will not provide final deliverance from all-consuming fear. The poetess believes that the best recognition of her services to Russian poetry will be a monument near the prison walls, which will be an eternal reminder to those living of that terrible and merciless time.

Anna Andreevna Akhmatova is one of the greatest poets of the 20th century. A woman whose tenacity and devotion were admired in Russia. Soviet authority first took her husband, then her son, her poems were banned, and the press persecuted her. But no sorrows could break her spirit. And Akhmatova embodied the trials that befell her in her works. “Requiem,” the history of creation and analysis of which will be discussed in this article, became the poetess’s swan song.

The idea of ​​the poem

In the preface to the poem, Akhmatova wrote that the idea for such a work arose during the years of the Yezhovshchina, which she spent in prison queues, seeking a meeting with her son. One day they recognized her, and one of the women asked if Akhmatova could describe what was happening around her. The poetess replied: “I can.” From that moment on, the idea of ​​the poem was born, as Akhmatova herself claims.

“Requiem,” the creation of which is connected with very difficult years for the Russian people, was suffered through the writer’s suffering. In 1935, the son of Akhmatova and Nikolai Gumilev, Lev Gumilev, was arrested for anti-Soviet activities. Then Anna Andreevna managed to quickly free her son by writing a letter to Stalin personally. But in 1938 a second arrest followed, then Gumilyov Jr. was sentenced to 10 years. And in 1949, the last arrest was made, after which he was sentenced to death, which was later replaced by exile. A few years later he was completely rehabilitated, and the charges were declared unfounded.

Akhmatova’s poem “Requiem” embodied all the sorrows that the poetess endured during these terrible years. But not only family tragedy is reflected in the work. It expressed the grief of all the people who suffered at that terrible time.

First lines

The sketches appeared in 1934. But this was a lyrical cycle, the creation of which was originally planned by Akhmatova. “Requiem” (the history of whose creation is our topic) became a poem later, already in 1938-40. The work was completed already in the 50s.

In the 60s of the 20th century, the poem, published in samizdat, enjoyed enormous popularity and was passed from hand to hand. This is due to the fact that the work was banned. Akhmatova suffered a lot to preserve her poem.

"Requiem": history of creation - first publication

In 1963, the text of the poem went abroad. Here in Munich, the work is officially published for the first time. Russian emigrants appreciated the poem; the publication of these poems confirmed the opinion of Anna Andreevna’s poetic talent. However full text"Requiem" was published only in 1987, when it was published in the magazine "October".

Analysis

The theme of Akhmatova’s poem “Requiem” is the suffering of a person for his loved ones, whose life hangs in the balance. The work consists of poems written in different years. But they are all united by a mournful and mournful sound, which is already included in the title of the poem. A requiem is something intended for a funeral service.

In her prosaic preface, Akhmatova states that the work was written at someone else’s request. Here the tradition laid down by Pushkin and Nekrasov manifested itself. That is, order fulfillment common man, embodying the will of the people, speaks of the civic orientation of the entire work. Therefore, the heroes of the poem are all those people who stood with her under the “red blind wall.” The poetess writes not only about her own grief, but also about the suffering of the entire people. Therefore, her lyrical “I” is transformed into a large-scale and all-encompassing “we”.

The first part of the poem, written in three-foot anapest, speaks of its folklore orientation. And the images (dawn, a dark room, an arrest similar to the removal of a body) create an atmosphere of historical authenticity and lead to the depths of centuries: “I am like the Streltsy’s wives.” Thus, the suffering of the lyrical heroine is interpreted as timeless, familiar to women even in the years of Peter the Great.

The second part of the work, written in trochaic tetrameter, is designed in the style of a lullaby. The heroine no longer laments or cries, she is calm and restrained. However, this humility is feigned; real madness grows inside her from the grief she is experiencing. At the end of the second part, everything in the thoughts of the lyrical heroine is confused, madness takes possession of her completely.

The culmination of the work was the chapter “Towards Death”. Here the main character is ready to die in any way: at the hands of a bandit, illness, or a “shell.” But there is no deliverance for the mother, and she literally turns to stone from grief.

Conclusion

Akhmatova’s poem “Requiem” carries the pain and suffering of the entire Russian people. And not only those experienced in the 20th century, but also over all the past centuries. Anna Andreevna does not describe her life with documentary accuracy; she talks about Russia’s past, its present and future.

Anna Akhmatova

No! and not under an alien firmament And not under the protection of alien wings - I was then with my people, Where my people, unfortunately, were. 1961

INSTEAD OF A FOREWORD

During the terrible years of the Yezhovshchina, I spent seventeen months in prison lines in Leningrad. One day someone “identified” me. Then a woman with blue lips standing behind me, who, of course, had never heard my name in her life, woke up from the stupor that is characteristic of us all and asked me in my ear (everyone there spoke in a whisper):

– Can you describe this?

And I said:

Then something like a smile crossed what had once been her face.

DEDICATION

Before this grief the mountains bend, the great river does not flow, but the prison gates are strong, and behind them are “convict holes” and mortal melancholy. For some, the fresh wind is blowing, For others, the sunset is basking - We don’t know, we are the same everywhere, We only hear the hateful grinding of keys and the heavy footsteps of soldiers. They rose as if to an early mass, They walked through the wild capital, There they met, more lifeless dead, The sun is lower, and the Neva is foggy, And hope still sings in the distance. The verdict... And immediately tears flow, Already separated from everyone, As if life had been taken out of the heart with pain, As if rudely knocked over, But she walks... She staggers... Alone. Where are the unwitting friends of my two maddened years now? What do they see in the Siberian blizzard, What do they see in the circle of the moon? To them I send my farewell greetings. March 1940

INTRODUCTION

It was when only the dead smiled, glad for the peace. And Leningrad swayed like an unnecessary pretense near its prisons. And when, maddened by torment, the already condemned regiments walked, And the locomotive whistles sang a short song of parting, The death stars stood above us, And innocent Rus' writhed Under the bloody boots And under the tires of black Marus. They took you away at dawn, They followed you, as if they were being taken away, Children were crying in the dark room, The shrine’s candle floated. There are cold icons on your lips, mortal sweat on your brow... Don’t forget! I will, like the Streltsy women, howl under the Kremlin towers. Autumn 1935, Moscow The quiet Don flows quietly, The yellow moon enters the house. He walks in with his hat tilted. Sees the yellow moon shadow. This woman is sick, This woman is alone. Husband in the grave, son in prison, Pray for me. No, it’s not me, it’s someone else who is suffering, I couldn’t do that, but what happened, Let them cover it with black cloth, And let them take away the lanterns... Night. 1939 I wish I could show you, the mocking one and the favorite of all friends, the cheerful sinner of Tsarskoe Selo, what will happen to your life - Like the three hundredth, with the transfer, you will stand under the Crosses and burn through the New Year's ice with your hot tears. There the prison poplar is swaying, And not a sound - and how many innocent lives are ending there... 1938 I have been screaming for seventeen months, Calling you home, Throwing myself at the feet of the executioner, You are my son and my horror. Everything is forever mixed up, And I can’t figure out now who is the beast, who is the man, And how long will it be to wait for the execution. And only lush flowers, And the ringing of incense, and footprints Somewhere to nowhere. And he looks straight into my eyes And a huge star threatens with imminent death. 1939 Lungs fly for weeks. I don’t understand what happened, How did you, son, look into prison? The white nights looked, How they look again with the hot eye of a hawk, About your high cross And they talk about death. Spring 1939

SENTENCE

And the stone word fell on my still living chest. It’s okay, because I was ready, I’ll deal with it somehow. I have a lot to do today: I need to completely kill my memory, I need my soul to turn to stone, I need to learn to live again. Otherwise... The hot rustle of summer is like a holiday outside my window. I have long anticipated this Bright day and an empty house. June 22, 1939

You will come anyway - why not now? I'm waiting for you - it's very difficult for me. I turned off the light and opened the door to You, so simple and wonderful. Take on any form for this, Burst in with a poisoned shell, Or sneak up with a weight like an experienced bandit, Or poison with a typhus child. Or a fairy tale invented by you And familiar to everyone to the point of nausea - So that I could see the top of the blue cap And the building manager, pale with fear. I don't care now. The Yenisei swirls, the Polar Star shines. And the blue shine of beloved eyes obscures the last horror. August 19, 1939, Fountain House Madness has already covered half of the Soul with its wing, And feeds with fiery wine, And beckons into the black valley. And I realized that I must give up victory to him, Listening to my own, as if someone else’s, delirium. And It won’t allow me to take anything with me (No matter how much you beg it and no matter how much you pester it with prayer)! Not the son's terrible eyes - Petrified suffering, Not the day when the thunderstorm came, Not the hour of the prison meeting, Not the sweet coolness of hands, Not the worried shadows of the linden trees, Not the distant light sound - Words of last consolation. May 4, 1940, Fountain House

CRUCIFIXION

“Don’t cry for Me, Mother, you will see me in the grave”

1 The choir of angels praised the great hour, And the heavens melted in fire. He said to his father: “Why did you leave me!” And to the Mother: “Oh, don’t cry for Me...” 1938 2 Magdalene fought and sobbed, The beloved disciple turned to stone, And where the Mother stood silently, No one dared to look. 1940, Fountain House

1 I learned how faces fall, how fear peeks out from under eyelids, how hard cuneiform pages Suffering brings to