IN MEMORY OF MARY BRIGHT

O

Why is this age worse than all the others? Perhaps
in this: it has touched the point of putrefaction,
Touched it in a rush of pain and sorrow,
But cannot make it whole.

In the west the familiar light still shines
And the spires of the cities glow in the sun.
But here a dark figure is marking the houses
and calling the ravens, and the ravens come.

Anna Akhmatova, from The Stray Dog Cabaret