You by Vladimir Mayakovsky

You by Vladimir Mayakovsky You came – determined, because I was large, because I was roaring, but on close inspection you saw a mere boy. You seized and snatched away my heart and began to play with it – like a girl with a bouncing ball. And before this miracle every woman was either a […]

To All and Everything by Vladimir Mayakovsky

To All and Everything by Vladimir Mayakovsky No. It can’t be. No! You too, beloved? Why? What for? Darling, look – I came, I brought flowers, but, but… I never took silver spoons from your drawer! Ashen-faced, I staggered down five flights of stairs. The street eddied round me. Blasts. Blares. Tires screeched. It was […]

Back Home by Vladimir Mayakovsky

Back Home by Vladimir Mayakovsky Thoughts, go your way home. Embrace, depths of the soul and the sea. In my view, it is stupid to be always serene. My cabin is the worst of all cabins ; All night above me Thuds a smithy of feet. All night, stirring the ceiling’s calm, dancers stampede to […]

Past One O’Clock … by Vladimir Mayakovsky

Past One O’Clock … by Vladimir Mayakovsky Past one o’clock. You must have gone to bed. The Milky Way streams silver through the night. I’m in no hurry; with lightning telegrams I have no cause to wake or trouble you. And, as they say, the incident is closed. Love’s boat has smashed against the daily […]

My Soviet Passport by Vladimir Mayakovsky

My Soviet Passport by Vladimir Mayakovsky I’d tear like a wolf at bureaucracy. For mandates my respect’s but the slightest. To the devil himself I’d chuck without mercy every red-taped paper. But this … Down the long front of coupés and cabins File the officials politely. They gather up passports and I give in My […]

Attitude To A Miss by Vladimir Mayakovsky

Attitude To A Miss by Vladimir Mayakovsky That night was to decide if she and I were to be lovers. Under cover of darkness no one would see, you see. I bent over her, it’s the truth, and as I did, it’s the truth, I swear it, I said like a kindly parent: “Passion’s a […]