For all the foolishness I’ve said,
The punishment is heavy,
I could receive a pea of lead
From the secretary.*
____
* Joseph Stalin: (December 18, 1878 — March 5, 1953) was General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee from 1922 until his death in 1953.
За такую скоморошину,
Откровенно говоря,
Мне свинцовую горошину
Ждать бы от секретаря.
«A day of heat. The woods burning. Time / Hanging heavy. From a neighboring plot / A cock was crowing. I went through the gate. / There, on the bench, his back against the fence, / A wandering Serb, dark-skinned and lean, sat dozing. / A heavy silver crucifix hung down / Among the rolling...»
«The snow has drifted. Quietness descends. / Blind walls beside the alley here, and empty ground. / Here comes a man. To take the knife and stab him now! / — Without a sound he’ll lean against the fence, / Then slowly sink onto his knees, and lie face down. / The snowy breath that stirs...»
«I I had lots of fun today: / First the thief who pinched a pullet / From that hag across the way; / Then the horse — they tried to pull it — / Jumped and bolted like a bullet; / And the kite has flown away. But — the thief is no more free, / They have locked him in a cell; / Fo...»
«Twilight was turning to darkness outside. / Under the eaves a window banged wide. A curtain was lifted, a light briefly shone, / A swift shadow fell down the wall and was gone. Happy the man who falls head first to death: / At least for a moment his viewpoint is fresh.»