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Last Toast by Anna Akhmatova

Translated from the Russian by Katie Farris and Ilya Kaminsky


 

I drink to our ruined house
To the evil of my life
To our loneliness together
And I drink to you—
To the lying lips that have betrayed us,
To the dead-cold eyes,
To the fact that the world is brutal and coarse
To the fact that God did not save us.

 

 


Born in Odessa, Anna Akhmatova is one of the four most important Russian poets of the 20th century, others being Mandelstam, Tsvetaeva and Pasternak. She was associated with the Akhmeism movement.

Ilya Kaminsky was born in Odessa, Ukraine and currently lives in San Diego.

Katie Farris is the author of Boysgirls (Marick Press) and co-editor of Gossip and Metaphysics: Russian Modernist Poets (Tupelo Press). She teaches in the MFA Program at SDSU.



4 responses to “Last Toast by Anna Akhmatova”

  1. Anthony Madrid says:
    July 2, 2017 at 9:44 am

    Here’s the original, so people don’t have to look it up.

    •

    Последний тост

    Я пью за разорённый дом,
    За злую жизнь мою,
    За одиночество вдвоём,
    И за тебя я пью,—
    За ложь меня предавших губ,
    За мертвый холод глаз,
    За то, что мир жесток и груб,
    За то, что Бог не спас.

    •

    Reply
  2. Lisa Zeiger says:
    August 7, 2019 at 3:58 pm

    I just began reading Akhmatova, and so far, your translation of this poem is the best. I would really love to see more!

    Reply
  3. Джон Стюарт says:
    November 30, 2019 at 3:09 am

    Спасибо

    Reply
  4. Dennis Maurer says:
    August 7, 2020 at 12:53 am

    Desolate-drained-bitter cold-beyond acceptable resentment-bleak-all that is beautiful

    Reply

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