The+Grey-Eyed+King

**The Grey-Eyed King**

//Anna Akhmatova// (1889 - 1966)

Glory to you, oh pain, sorrow unending!

Yesterday he died, the grey-eyed king.

A stifling autumn night, the sky red,

When my husband, returning home, calmly said,

'He was hunting, you know. They've brought the body back.

He lay by an old oak on the forest track.

So sad for the queen. Her hair's gone white.

So young for death, turned old overnight.'

He found his pipe on the chimney, and then a light,

And went away, off to his work for the night.

Now I will go and awaken my daughter from sleep,

My grey-eyed daughter, into her eyes look deep.

And hear the poplars beside the window, sighing,

'He walks on the earth no longer, your grey-eyed king...'

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> (translated from Russian by Robert Tracy)