To Anna Akhmatova
By Alexander Blok
"And the beauty is terrible" - You'd be told to, -
Then You'll put on lazily
On your shoulders the spain shawl,
And a scarlet rose - in hair.
"And the beauty is simple" -
You'd be told to, -
With a motley shawl You'll lubberly
Cover a child,
And a rose - on the floor.
But, absentmindedly harking
To all words, heard around,
You'll sink to a reverie,
And rehearsing inside You:
"I'm not awful, nor simple;
I'm not terrible to kill down
Easily; I'm not so simple
To learn, that the life is frightening".
16 december 1913