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Anna Andreyevna Akhmatova

The great Russian poet Anna Akhmatova was born Anna Andreyevna Gorenko in the town of Bolshoy Fontan, near Odessa, on June 23, 1889 (June 11 Old Style, Julian calendar of her day). Her father was a

Willow

by Anna Andreyevna Akhmatova (1889–1966)

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16

...and a decrepit handful of trees.

—Aleksandr Pushkin

And I matured in peace born of command,

in the nursery of the infant century,

and the voice of man was never dear to me,

but the breeze’s voice—that I could understand.

The burdock and the nettle I preferred,

but best of all the silver willow tree.

Its weeping limbs fanned my unrest with dreams;

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