Somewhere there is a simple life and a world, <br />Transparent, warm and joyful. . . <br />There at evening a neighbor talks with a girl <br />Across the fence, and only the bees can hear <br />This most tender murmuring of all. <br /> <br />But we live ceremoniously and with difficulty <br />And we observe the rites of our bitter meetings, <br />When suddenly the reckless wind <br />Breaks off a sentence just begun - <br /> <br />But not for anything would we exchange this splendid <br />Granite city of fame and calamity, <br />The wide rivers of glistening ice, <br />The sunless, gloomy gardens, <br />And, barely audible, the Muse's voice.<br /><br />Anna Akhmatova<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/somewhere-there-is-a-simple-life/
