Velimir Khlebnikov
Stop fooling

Hey, you sharp little con men!
The wind is in your head.
In Pugachovian sheepskins
Down Moscow’s streets I tread.
It wasn’t for this we had
The great truth on our side,
So in sables and trotters
All these mockers could ride.
It wasn’t for this the foe
Poured out his blood like water,
So you’d see strings of pearls
On every street hawker.
No sense chattering teeth
All this night long.
I will sail, I will sing
Down the Volga, the Don!
I’ll set out in the blue
In my evening skiffs.
Who’s beside me in flight?
Beside me — only friends!

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^* This poem protests Lenin’s New Economic Policy (NEP) period inaugurated in 1921.

Translated by Gary Kern