15.7.26

Confusion


I

In that burning light I suffocate - 
Under those eyes like the sun's rays 
I shudder: this one 
Will tame me.

He leans close to tell me something . . . 
And all the blood leaves my face. 
May love like a tombstone close over my life.

II

You don't love me? 
You don't want to look at me? 
O wretch! 
How handsome you are! 
And I can no longer fly, 
I, who had wings even as a child.

Fog covers my eyes, 
Blurs faces and lights. 
E see only the red tulip, 
The red tulip in your buttonhole.

Anna Akhmatova 
1889 - 1966