Wild honey smells of freedom The dust - of sunlight The mouth of a young girl, like a violet But gold - smells of nothing.
Anna AkhmatovaRead
I know beginnings, I know endings too, and life-in-death, and something else I'd rather not recall just now.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects on the cyclical nature of life and death, indicating a deep understanding of both beginnings and endings.
In this quote, Anna Akhmatova contemplates the dualities of existence β the start and the finish of life, as well as the profound experiences that exist between those states. The acknowledgment of 'life-in-death' suggests an awareness of how the end is intrinsically linked to the beginning, and how certain memories or experiences may be too painful to revisit, emphasizing the complexity of human emotions and the journey of life.
Themes
BeginningsEndingsLifeDeathMemoryExistence
In practice
Example use cases
Using this quote in a eulogy to celebrate the life of a loved one.
More from Anna Akhmatova
All quotes βAnd you know, I agree to everything: I will condemn, I will forget, I will give comfort to the enemy, Darkness will be light and sin lovely.
Anna AkhmatovaRead
Who will grieve for this woman? Does she not seem too insignificant for our concern? Yet in my heart I never will deny her, Who suffered death because she chose to turn.
Anna AkhmatovaRead
I myself, from the very beginning, Seemed to myself like someone's dream or delirium Or a reflection in someone else's mirror, Without flesh, without meaning, without a name. Already I knew the list of crimes That I was destined to commit.
Anna AkhmatovaRead
If you were music I would listen to you ceaselessly And my low spirits would brighten up.
Anna AkhmatovaRead
Not, not mine: it's somebody else's wound; I could never have borne it. So take the thing that happened, hide it, stick it in the ground; whisk the lamps away.
Anna AkhmatovaRead
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