Snowflakes were 2 inches across today briefly, now it's stopped. Click on image for larger view."And may the melting snow drop like tears
From my motionless bronze eyelids,
And the prison pigeons coo above me
And the ships sail slowly down the Neva"
- Anna Akhmatova (1889-1966), excerpt from "Requiem"
Please go to the embedded link "Requiem" and read this poem about Stalinist prison camp life in Russia. This was part of the reality of Akhmatova's world which she did not fear to write about. Her husband was killed in one of the camps. This poem was not published in Russia until after her death, and of course after Stalin's death.
This was part of our world in the 20th century, one of the most horrible centuries in human history.
I don't publish this to depress you or me. I don't live in the past. I just don't want to forget how hard life has been for some.
Be sure to check in at Paris Deconstructed, where I publish a new post once or twice a week. (I had taken a hiatus but decided I couldn't stay away!)
7 comments:
I'm stunned, Ruth, by the synchronicity of our posts today. How did we both think of the same sort of thing!
Oh yes, "may the melting snow drop like tears" for all who have suffered and remain unshattered!
Ginnie, yes, I think it was a subconscious memorializing of Armistice Day, the end of WWI. So much suffering and death.
This has not ended Ruth, its everywhere. This is not past. You find such experiences in the present too, perhaps worse.
Were YOU thinking of Armistice Day when you wrote this, Ruth? I certainly wasn't, not until you said it. Our subconscious minds are unbelievable!
Ruthie I just want to say thank you for introducing me to poems and poets with which I am not familiar. You expand my world and I am grateful.
Kim
Rauf, unfortunately it's true that we have many horrible insanities present in the world now. I just imagined someone thinking, "why are you writing this depressing stuff when it's in the past." One reason to write about it is to remind ourselves it is part of the human condition currently as well. Thanks for pointing it out.
Ginnie, no, I was not thinking of Armistice Day. Not until after you pointed out that we had both written about shattered lives (or unshattered). We watched "Sargeant York" last night. What a heart-warming true story.
Kim, thank you so much for visiting and leaving a comment. There are many poets I don't know as well, and I agree that I'm grateful when someone exposes me to their work.
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