FREE WORD No. 135

...if only it weren't so sad

Dmitry Vorobyevsky, Voronezh
Beyond Kazbek with Vovan-bek

Shevardnadze was dragged away
From the trough, thank God.
To the young, as they say,
It's time to give way.

And Nino with Saakashvili
Are pushing their way onto the stage.
In Russia, they would have been finished off
In a back alley for treason.

But Russia is beyond Kazbek,
Beyond the thick clouds.
By a prince, a khan, or a bek
It has been ruled for centuries.

And today's little khan
"Wastes" enemies in outhouses
He started, I suppose, from the cradle,
With little bunnies in "Detsky Mir" [Children's World stores].

But then he got carried away,
Like a butting cow.
If a house exploded somewhere, —
Apparently, he is frolicking again.

If somewhere they bombed
An entire city or villages, —
It means a new Dzhugashvili
Is creating his creations again.

If people are dying like flies,
But the screens praise the "leader," —
It means "dead souls" will be added
To Judas again in the elections.

If in the name of a "messiah"
To shame or to slaughter
They drive recruits, — he is
Performing a "circumcision" on Russia.

Good people, are you not strong enough
To drag the ghoul away from the trough?
Has he not drunk his fill
Of your blood yet?

Requiem for the murdered deserters

They told you: to the Fatherland
Duty must be paid sacredly,
Not sparing even life,
Like, they say, grandfathers once did.

They kept telling you: the laws,
They say, were written for you,
And into barracks, like into "zones" [prison camps]
You were legally driven.

You were driven like a herd,
And it doesn't matter — into war or not.
They told you: "It must be so!"

For absolutely nothing
You were deprived of freedom
Boundlessly, immeasurably,
And not just for years.

The sovereign's creatures
Washed you with your own blood,
They turned you into slaves

But having rebelled, for a short while
You returned your will.
And the champions of "duty"
Killed you for it.

You, who did not spill
Innocent blood... Like wolves,