Early on, every major event
seemed destined for March: Kolya’s return
from Middle East; his leaving for Abyssin-
ia; and her publishing those yearning
first books, Evening and Rosary. By
your age called “Anna of all the Russias;”
by my age, she would pay for it dearly.
Early on, those Marches, she didn’t write much,
marking poems by day, month, or year.
Then, age 47, she sees Osip’s fate,
penning “Voronezh” to record her fear.
Four years after, holding barred prison gates,
she dedicates “Requiem.” Later on,
she dies in March, leaving us her poems.
Roger Armbrust
March 23, 1999
