This line from Akhmadulina’s quatrain helps to feel gratitude for the invaluable things that happened in our lives.
“This is a line from Akhmadulina’s quatrain. I remember how my wife and I read her poems. In them, even in the saddest, there is a sense of light that can console bitter feelings. The further away the death of my wife Katya is, the more acutely everything that happens after her departure is perceived. You already get used to the fact that you can’t touch your loved one, hear his voice … This is the worst thing that you comprehend when you lose a loved one. But I know that I was once happy. To love Katya, to see the meaning of life in her was a great happiness for me. And this thought saves. Katya is no longer there, but the fact that she was in my life is the most important consolation for me. And about this — the poems of Bella Akhmadulina.
* Bella Akhmadulina (1937–2010), an outstanding Russian poet and translator. The poem «Who knows — eternity or a moment …» was written in 1960, dedicated to the writer Venedikt Erofeev.