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'Everything's looted, betrayed and traded,'
by Anna Akhmatova
Everything's Looted, Betrayed and Traded (1921) is one of Akhmatova's most powerful poems of hope amid devastation, finding miraculous light in the ruins of post-revolutionary Russia. "And something miraculous will come / Close to the darkness and ruin."
Everything's looted, betrayed and traded,
Black death's wing's overhead.
Everything's eaten by hunger, un-sated,
So why does a light shine ahead?
By day, a mysterious wood, near the town,
Breathes out cherry, a cherry perfume.
By night, on July's sky, deep, and transparent,
New constellations are thrown.
And something miraculous will come
Close to the darkness and ruin,
Something no-one, no-one, has known,
Though we've longed for it since we were children.
Crowd Score: 6.8
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