Nina Berberova, the author of the famous memoir “My Italics,” appears in this collection in a role unusual for the modern Russian reader—the role of a poet. Her poems, published for the first time in her homeland, are the exact opposite of memoirs. This is a lyrical diary not of a “mind of cold observations”, but of a “heart of sorrowful notes”, covering more than sixty years of a complex, rich and truly legendary life. And life consisted of wanderings: escape from Russia, Germany, Italy, France, after the Second World War - America... The illustrations in the book of poems are frames from a chronicle of the 20th century, seen as if from the window of a rushing train, “a little out of focus,” like Berberova’s poetry itself — “beyond any ideas about oneself” (Dmitry Bykov).