From Anna to Mikhail

8 ноября 1913 года

Солнце комнату наполнило
Пылью жёлтой и сквозной.
Я проснулась и припомнила:
Милый, нынче праздник твой.
Оттого и оснежённая
Даль за окнами тепла,
Оттого и я, бессонная,
Как причастница спала.

8 November 1913

Sunshine, dust-filled yet translucent
Lit the room, a yellow ray.
Waking, I knew in an instant:
Dearest, this is your name day.
This is why the snowy starkness
Through my window feels so warm,
This is why, so often sleepless,
I succumbed to slumber’s charm

November 8 is the feast day of Archangel Michael, so this poem by Anna Akhmatova was probably written for Mikhail Lozinsky, a remarkable translator and noble and brilliant person who at the time was an important part of her life. Many years later she wrote of him:

“Lozinsky had a marvelous knowledge of languages and was an almost criminally conscientious person. He soon began to translate, fortuitously discerning where fate was leading him. On this path he attained great renown and left behind examples of unrivaled excellence.”

Lozinsky was an integral part of the Silver Age. He wrote poetry, was friends with Gumilyov and many other poets, and was a habitué of the Stray Dog Cabaret, an early twentieth-century gathering place where writers and actors discussed art, read from their works, or performed theater.

At the time this poem was written, Lozinsky was editing books for Akhmatova. As she wrote, “He did this selflessly, like everything he did. I would behave capriciously, and he would affectionately say, ‘She was working with her secretary and was in a bad humor.’”

Looking back on this same period of her relationship with Lozinsky, Akhmatova reflected: “The more I write, the more I remember. Long rides in a horse-drawn cab, when the rain drummed soothingly on the raised carriage top and the scent of my perfume (Avia) blended with the scent of wet skin, the train to Tsarskoye Selo (a world of its own), and meetings of the Guild of Poets, when Mikhail Leonidovich spoke in his unforgettable voice.”

Later, Akhmatova’s second husband, Vladimir Shileko, who had been close with Lozinsky, was unable to overcome his jealousy and broke off relations with him.

Akhmatova, on the other hand, maintained feelings of friendship toward Lozinsky for the rest of her life. She was particularly grateful to him during the Stalin years, when he had the courage to intercede for her, despite the fact that she was a virtual outcast.