A madness came upon me...

[alexpgp]

So there I am, minding my own business, when I run across an item in ru_translate that asks about the terms "ground war" and "air war" when used in an economic context (this, going from Chinese into Russian). An excellent answer is provided by one weird_penguin who, alas, has a friends-only journal, except for a catchall post. I read the post, which soon leads me to another post by nevercertain, where she takes a crack at the following from Akhmatova and invites weird_penguin - and presumably anyone - to add their two cents.

The poem sort of grew on me, so I took a crack at it myself. Here 'tis:

Двадцать первое. Ночь. Понедельник.
Очертанья столицы во мгле.
Ведь придумал какой-то бездельник
Что бывает любовь на земле.
И от лености, или со скуки
Все поверили, так и живут
Ждут свиданий, боятся разлуки
И любовные песни поют
Но иным открывается тайна
И почиет на них тишина
Я об этом узнала случайно
И с тех пор все как будто больна…

--А. А. Ахматова

* * *Monday, the twenty-first. Night.
The capital looms in the haze.
And thanks to some sluggard's muse taking flight,
Some think "love" is more than a phrase.
Due to sloth or a weary arrangement,
All believe that love's in their midst,
Planning trysts and fearing estrangement,
They croon their love songs and exist.
But to some the enigma is opened,
And a stillness descends on their core;
I've learned of this only by hazard
And been sick to my soul evermore.

-- A. A. Akhmatova

Cheers...