Anna and the Scourge (for Anna Akhmatova)
We memorized poemsto pass them on,past the strident windsout of the Kremlin. When I walk the avenuelined with our history,I trust you to guardthe ashes I can't claim. My friends, now in cornersunknown, memories enfold usin the raw weather of our release. Dank cells offer only blank prospects,now, a full moon illuminates your path,promise opens out to a peaceful sea. Remember metal on metal at dawn,the thud and crunch of boots,shouts, and cries of the tortured. Black Marias careened with human loads,we consoled each other, understandingthat Russian speech was our homeland. Delirium thrived; we walked bythe frozen grins of corpses,chains finally unfastened. Proud Russia writhed under jackboots,I won't allow emotion now,a dark shroud protects our memories. I remember your words as I do your faces,There will be new sorrows, but I willremember our time through them all. If there is to be a monument,place it in front of the steel doorswhere I stood for hundreds of hours, where an old woman's cries echoedthrough us and no one slid back the bolt."Escaped, the Russian word will last forever."