Under Her Dark Veil

Anna Akhmatova 1889 (Odessa) – 1966 (Moscow)



Under her dark veil she wrung her hands.
"Why are you so pale today?"
"Because I made him drink of stinging grief
Until he got drunk on it.
How can I forget? He staggered out,
His mouth twisted in agony.
I ran down not touching the bannister

And caught up with him at the gate.
I cried: 'A joke!
That's all it was. If you leave, I'll die.'
He smiled calmly and grimly
And told me: 'Don't stand here in the wind.' "

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

26 sec read
62

Quick analysis:

Scheme XXXXXAX XXXAX
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 411
Words 88
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 7, 5

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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