Sentirai il tuono e mi rammenterai, penserai: desiderava la bufera... Sarà una striscia di cielo accesa di rosso, e il cuore come allora in fiamme. E… - Anna Akhmatova

"True Tenderness"

True tenderness is silent
and can't be mistaken for anything else.
In vain with earnest desire
you cover my shoulders with fur;
In vain you try to persuade me
of the merits of first love.
But I know too well the meaning
of your persistent burning glances.

Though you are three times more beautiful than angels,
Though you are the sister of the river willows,
I will kill you with my singing,
Without spilling your blood on the ground.
Not touching you with my hand,
Not giving you one glance, I will stop loving you,
But with your unimaginable groans
I will finally slake my thirst.
From her, who wandered the earth before me,
Crueler than ice, more fiery than flame,
From her, who still exists in the ether — From her you will set me free.

If you were a star, I would gaze by the window till dawn