We are cultured: we clean our teeth,
Mouth, and both boots.
In letters, we are especially polite:
“Your most obedient servant.”
So then, why do we end
Any kind of debate —
like weak fools —
Imitating Papuans
And beating each other on the snouts?
True, it is usually through words,
But they smart just the same.
Мы культурны: чистим зубы,
Рот и оба сапога.
В письмах вежливы сугубо —
«Ваш покорнейший слуга».
Отчего ж при всяком споре,
Доведенном до конца,
Мы с бессилием глупца,
Подражая папуасам,
Бьем друг друга по мордасам?
Правда, чаще — языком,
Но больней, чем кулаком.
___
Сат. 1909. № 41. С. 6. Под заглавием «После посещения „литературного общества“». Две последние строки читались так:
Правда: чаще — языком,
Но бывает — кулаком.
За подписью «С-a Черный» стихотворение напечатано в однодневной газете «День народной печати» (Псков, 1917. 20 июля) под заглавием «Полемика» и с изменениями в тексте — после 6 ст. следует:
Вместо умного отпора
Все с бессилием глупца,
В общей свалке бестолковой,
Подражая папуасам, —
Бьют друг друга по мордасам
При посредстве дара слова?
«Along the streets Big Elephant was led, / To show him off, most likely. / Since Elephants are not a common thing to see / A crowd of gapers followed on his heels. / All of a sudden Pug springs up in front of them. / And seeing Elephant, it raises a great rumpus, / It lunges, barks and h...»
«A playful prankish Dragonfly / The whole Summer have sung out / Finally, she looked about; / Winter 's already coming by. Like deceased the forest stays. / Where are you, those happy days, / When for her, under each tree, / Was a home and tart with tea? The evil Winter took all i...»
«In the summer’s gaily singing, / Of the future isn’t thinking, / But the winter’s nearby. / Field was green, it’s now reddish, / Happy days already vanished, / And it happens no more, / That a leaf gives roof and store. / All has gone. In cold winters / Want and hunger wait a...»
«Always are the weak at fault before the strong. / In history we hear a host of examples, / But history we are not writing: / Here is how they tell of it in Fables. A Lamb, one sweltering day, came by a stream to drink. / An lo, calamity had to befall him / In that a hungry Wolf was scouri...»