Akhmatova's Husband
Akhmatova's husband, Gumilev, was a poet
and an explorer.
He wrote poems about wild animals
and had fantastic ideas:
a red bird with the head of a girl
and a lost tram that goes wandering..
shedding fire "like a storm with dark
wings, "
passing over bridges,
by a house with three windows where
a woman he loved once lived,
and, rushing toward him, two raised
hooves and an iron glove.
Gumilev fought in the Great War
with almost incredible valor, twice
winning the Cross of Saint George.
He envisioned a little old man forging
the bullet that would kill him.
It wasn't a German bullet, it was Russian.
Gumilev was killed by his own countrymen
as poets in Russia frequently are.
Everyone talks about Akhmatova
but no one talks about Gumilev.
That wouldn't have mattered to Gumilev.
When the man from the government
came to kill him,
"Just give me a sigarette, "
said Gumilev,
"and let's get it over with. "
