by Anna Andreyevna Akhmatova (1889 - 1966)
Translation © by Lyn Coffin (b. 1943)

А я иду, где ничего не надо
Language: Russian (Русский) 
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А я иду, где ничего не надо,
Где самый милый спутник — только тень,
И веет ветер из глухого сада,
А под ногой могильная ступень.

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Text Authorship:

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

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  • Also set in English, a translation by Lyn Coffin (b. 1943) , "Where Nothing Is Needed", copyright © 1983 ; composed by Sheena Phillips.

Researcher for this page: Joost van der Linden [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2026-07-04
Line count: 4
Word count: 25

Where nothing is needed
Language: English  after the Russian (Русский) 
Where nothing is needed, I walk like a child
 [ ... ]

This text may be copyright, so we will not display it until we obtain permission to do so or discover it is public-domain.

Text Authorship:

Based on:

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

This text was added to the website: 2026-07-04
Line count: 4
Word count: 36