Pyotr Patrushev ©2006
Email: rustran@gmail.com
See Pyotr's translation and interpreting webpage: www.russiantranslate.org
BORIS - in memory of Yeltsin
This bi-lingual poem was written during one of the many of Boris’ sojourns at the elite heart clinic in Moscow. He proved to be more enduring than expected, at least physically. As in Brezhnev’s time, wags joked that he would have been long dead if Americans would have imposed an embargo on importation of spare parts for him. However, some years later, the main message of this poem sounds truer than ever. It was publicly performed for the fist time during a poetry reading at the NSW Writers’ Centre. Read Boris in Russian
|
The raucous giant, The broad grin and the bear hug; To embrace or to suffocate, A drunk conductor, Leading an even drunker country On a merry-go-round, Pillaging the scraps Of the past, Mortgaging the future. Dust of the Tsar's grave And the blood of the Chechen bride On grimy fingers Soiled on the tennis court. You had noble visions, Boris, Now dissolved in the Vapour of the 40 proof And the vertigo of power And the hidden despair Of your ungrateful people Who nurse visions Of murdered Tsars And betrayed people Who wanted the millennium And the New Rome And who built instead A derelict orphanage Run by paedophiles. But Russia endures And you will lead on, Even from your death bed, The remnants of the nation To more G7 rounds And the debt talks, Shaking a fistful of rusted missiles At the gnomes of Zurich, Tilting the bench with you big arse. Back at home, The sewerage does not work But the Japs have put in A cellular toilet. While Russia's girls sell themselves abroad For a bit of tinsel, Men wear horn-rimmed glasses And talk of the futures If not the future. Thank you, Boris, The follower of the embalmed Chess Player, And the Murderous Joseph, And the Peasant Buffoon, And the senile Car Lover, And the Jesuit Communist, And Raisa's Reforming Lawyer. In comparison You have been Almost a gentleman. Rest in peace. You will need no embalming.
|