In every day there is such
A murky and irksome hour.
I speak loudly to melancholy,
Not having opened my sleepy eyes.
And it pulsates like blood,
Like the sigh of warmth,
Like happy love,
Smart and evil.
by Anna Akhmatova
1917
Poem from Plantain (1921)
Translated by Ljubov V. Kuchkina