For My Husband
alec vanderboom
Who memorized this untitled Anna Akhmatova poem to quote to me while we were waiting during my c-section prep for Alex to be born . . .
Broad and yellow is the evening light,
The coolness of April is dear.
You, of course, are several years late,
Even so, I'm happy you're here.
Sit close at hand and look at me,
With those eyes, so cheerful and mild:
This blue notebook is full, you see,
Full of poems I wrote as a child.
Forgive me, forgive me, for having grieved
For ignoring the sunshine, too.
And especially for having believed
That so many others were you.
1915, From Anna Akhmatova Poems, Translated by Lyn Coffin
Broad and yellow is the evening light,
The coolness of April is dear.
You, of course, are several years late,
Even so, I'm happy you're here.
Sit close at hand and look at me,
With those eyes, so cheerful and mild:
This blue notebook is full, you see,
Full of poems I wrote as a child.
Forgive me, forgive me, for having grieved
For ignoring the sunshine, too.
And especially for having believed
That so many others were you.
1915, From Anna Akhmatova Poems, Translated by Lyn Coffin