Sunbeam

Anna Akhmatova 1889 (Odessa) – 1966 (Moscow)



I pray to the sunbeam from the window -
It is pale, thin, straight.
Since morning I have been silent,
And my heart - is split.
The copper on my washstand
Has turned green,
But the sunbeam plays on it
So charmingly.
How innocent it is, and simple,
In the evening calm,
But to me in this deserted temple
It's like a golden celebration,
And a consolation.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 28, 2023

21 sec read
248

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABCDAEDFGHGII
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 360
Words 69
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 13

Anna Akhmatova

Anna Akhmatova was born in 1889 in Odessa on the Black Sea coast. In 1910 she married Nikolai Gumilev, who was also a poet. He was shot as an alleged counter-revolutionary in 1921. Very little of Akhmatova's poetry was published between 1923 and 1941. After Stalin's death her poetry began to be published again. She died in 1966, in a suburb of Moscow. more…

All Anna Akhmatova poems | Anna Akhmatova Books

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