By Anna Akhmatova
Translation by
Dasha Bulatova
Precious night!
In the astral cloak,
Under somber poppies, with the insomnious owl.
Precious daughter!
We buried you
In fertile soil.
Dionysian chalices emptied,
Love’s lakes dried...
Those that march over our city
Are your ghastly sisters.
- 30th of May, 1942, Tashkent