"Morning of the Execution of the Streltsy" (fragment)
Анна Ахматова
(1889-1966)
Уводили тебя на рассвете,
За тобой, как на выносе, шла,
В темной горнице плакали
дети,
У божницы свеча оплыла.
На губах твоих холод
иконки,
Смертный пот на челе… Не забыть!
Буду я, как стрелецкие женки,
Под кремлевскими башнями выть.
1935 г.
(отрывок из произведения
«Реквием»)
d
Literal
Translation by Judith Hemschemeyer
(with slight amendations by URB)
(with slight amendations by URB)
They led you away at dawn.
I followed you, like a mourner [following a coffin],
In the dark front room the children were crying,
By the icon shelf the candle was dying.
On your lips was the icon’s chill.
The deathly sweat on your brow . . . Unforgettable!—
I will be like the wives of the Streltsy,
Howling under the Kremlin towers.
(excerpt from the long poem “Requiem”)
d
Literary
Translation/Adaptation by U.R. Bowie
They led you away in the early dawn
hours,
I trailed behind as a mourner does, crying,
In darkness the children stood wailing by the doors,
The icon shelf candle was guttering, dying.
On your lips was the chill from the icon’s dark mien,
Deathly sweat on your brow . . . hideous!
I’ll be like the Streltsy wives (think of the scene),
Under the Kremlin walls shrieking and piteous.
I followed you, like a mourner [following a coffin],
In the dark front room the children were crying,
By the icon shelf the candle was dying.
On your lips was the icon’s chill.
The deathly sweat on your brow . . . Unforgettable!—
I will be like the wives of the Streltsy,
Howling under the Kremlin towers.
(excerpt from the long poem “Requiem”)
I trailed behind as a mourner does, crying,
In darkness the children stood wailing by the doors,
The icon shelf candle was guttering, dying.
On your lips was the chill from the icon’s dark mien,
Deathly sweat on your brow . . . hideous!
I’ll be like the Streltsy wives (think of the scene),
Under the Kremlin walls shrieking and piteous.
d
Note
from The Complete Poems of Anna Akhmatova
Judith Hemschemeyer (translator), Roberta Reeder (editor), p. 806
“This poem refers to the arrest of
Nikolai Punin (1888-1953), the art historian and critic with whom Akhmatova
lived from 1926 until the late Thirties. After the Revolution he worked under
Lunacharsky in the Fine Arts section of the People’s Commissariat of
Enlightenment. During the purges Punin was arrested and sent to a forced-labor
camp. He died in a camp in Abez, Siberia, in August, 1953.
“The Streltsy—an elite military
corps instituted by Ivan the Terrible. Their mutiny in 1698 was mercilessly
crushed by Peter the Great and 2,422 of them were tortured and hanged. Their
wives pleaded for them ‘under the Kremlin towers.’ This incident is the subject
of Vasily Surikov’s famous painting, ‘The Morning of the Execution of the Streltsy.’”
From
Brittanica Article Online
Vasily Surikov's painting,
"The Morning of the Execution of the Streltsy" (1881), depicts a
pivotal moment in Russian history. The streltsy were a
musketeer corps established in the 16th century that served as the tsar's
bodyguard and held significant political influence. By the late 17th century,
they became discontented and revolted against Peter I. Although Surikov's
painting is set in Red Square, the actual executions took place elsewhere. The
artwork captures a frozen moment of historical time, focusing on the emotional
weight of the event rather than strict factual accuracy, reflecting Surikov's
view of history as tragic.
Judith Hemschemeyer (translator), Roberta Reeder (editor), p. 806
This monumental painting is held
in the collection of the Tretiakov Gallery in Moscow.
