Dream

I knew I was appearing in your dream
Because I couldn't fall asleep.
The lantern flickered blue
And pointed out the path to me.

You saw the tsarina's garden,
The filigreed white palace
And the black tracery of the iron fences
Around the resonant stone porches.

You went along, not knowing the way
And you thought: "Faster, faster!
Oh, only to find her,
Not to wake up until we meet."

And the watchman at the red gate
Called out to you: "Halt!"
The ice crumbled and cracked,
Black water appeared underfoot.

"This is the lake," you thought.
"In the lake there is a little island..."
And suddenly from the darkness
Shone the small blue flame.

In the harsh light of a meager day,
You awoke, and you began to groan,
And for the first time
You called me loudly by my name.

March 1915
Tsarskoye Selo

Anna Akhmatova