When again to walls with dripping glue,
They start to paste their signs,
When to dear people and dear soldiers too,
The ink blast-blackens through,
And every goon, and every foolish swine,
Takes this everlasting lie as true:
That one must go and by cannon rip asunder,
Murder, poison, burn and plunder;
When in the thousandth way they charm,
“Homeland, harm”—and by this sleight
of-hand delude with coat-of-arms,
And incite by reason of “historical right”,
The power, the glory, the frontiers,
Of our fathers, forefathers and their banners,
Of heroes and martyrs;
When the bishop, priest and rabbi,
All emerge to bless your rifle to the skies,
Because they themselves have heard God say,
For the homeland all must fight today;
When the cadaverous screech of vulgarized
front-page paper headlines rings,
And herds of wild women canonize
—with flowers—our brave little soldierlings:
“But, my dear unlearn'ed friend,
My brother from this or other worlds!
Know that they beat their drums with dread,
These kings with paunchy maiden-girls;
Know that it’s a sham, a common ruse,
When they command you: “Shoulder arms!”,
For somewhere deep their oil’s begun to ooze,
Yielding a harvest of dollars;
That banks aren’t quite to their liking—that
they’ve sniffed out cash in places easier to access,
Or else set-sights, these fattest cats,
On even fatter taxes.
Thresh the streets with bullets until you free the soil,
The blood is yours, the oil theirs!
And from capital to capital
call out, defending your blood, sweat and toil:
‘Fuck you—it’s us, you noble heirs!’”
PS. Meh, don't think this translation do justice to the great poem. Here's another one:
When with a fresh glue on the wall again
new notices will be posted
when black print will raise alarm
among the people and the soldiers
and any scoundrel, any jerk
will believe their eternal lie
that we must go and fire cannons,
murder, plunder, poison and burn
when on the thousandth prayer they'll begin
to tear the homeland with declination
and delude with a colored emblem
and incite with the historical right
about an inch of soil, glory and borderlands
about fathers, grandfathers and banners
about heroes and victims
about heroes and victims
When a bishop,a pastor, a rabbi will come out
to bless your rifle,
because God himself whispered to him from heaven,
that one must fight for the homeland
When with riots will explode
the scream of letters from the front pages of newspapers
and a herd of wild women
will shower soldiers with flowers
Oh, my uneducated friend
my brethren from this or other land
know that alarm bells are sounded
by kings and pot-bellied lords
Know that this is nonsense, ordinary swindle,
when they cry "to arms"
that somewhere oil gushed from the ground
and showered them with dollars
that something in banks is not adding up
that they've smelled somewhere full cashboxes
or the fat rogues have spotted
somewhat fatter tariff on cotton
Smash the gun against the street pavement
It is your blood is, theirs is the oil
And from a capital to capital
Shout, defending what you've worked hard for
"We won't be fooled, gentlemen of the gentry!"
"We won't be fooled, gentlemen of the gentry!"
"We won't be fooled, gentlemen of the gentry!"
"We won't be fooled, gentlemen of the gentry!"
My uneducated friend
My brethren from this or other land
know that alarm bells are sounded
by kings and big-bellied lords
Know that this is nonsense, ordinary swindle,
when they cry "present arms"
that somewhere oil gushed from the ground
and showered them with dollars
that something in banks is not adding up
that they've smelled somewhere full cashboxes
or the fat rogues have spotted
somewhat fatter tariff on cotton
Smash the gun against the street pavement
It is your blood is, theirs is the oil
And from a capital to capital
Shout, defending against own bloodbath
"We won't be fooled gentlemen of the gentry!"
"We won't be fooled, gentlemen of the gentry!"
"We won't be fooled, gentlemen of the gentry!"
"We won't be fooled, gentlemen of the gentry!"
"We won't be fooled, gentlemen of the gentry!"
"We won't be fooled, gentlemen of the gentry!"
"We won't be fooled, gentlemen of the gentry!"
"We won't be fooled, gentlemen of the gentry!"
Poll