The Twelve poem – Aleksandr Blok poems | Poetry Monster

A poem by Alexander Block – Alexandre Block – Alexandr Blok – Александр Блок
(1880-1921)

III

Our sons have gone

to serve the Reds

to serve the Reds

to risk their heads!

O bitter,bitter pain,

Sweet living!

A torn overcoat

an Austrian gun!

-To get the bourgeosie

We’ll start a fire

a worldwide fire, and drench it

in blood-

The good Lord bless us!

-O you bitter bitterness,

boring boredom,

deadly boredom.

This is how I will

spend my time.

This is how I will

scratch my head,

munch on seeds,

some sunflower seeds,

play with my knife

play with my knife.

You bourgeosie, fly as a sparrow!

I’ll drink your blood,

your warm blood, for love,

for dark-eyed love.

God, let this soul, your servant,

rest in peace.

Such boredom!

XII

… On they march with sovereign tread…

‘Who else goes there? Come out! I said

come out!’ It is the wind and the red

flag plunging gaily at their head.

The frozen snow-drift looms in front.

‘Who’s in the drift! Come out! Come here!’

There’s only the homeless mongrel runt

limping wretchedly in the rear …

‘You mangy beast, out of the way

before you taste my bayonet.

Old mongrel world, clear off I say!

I’ll have your hide to sole my boot!

The shivering cur, the mongrel cur

bares his teeth like a hungry wolf,

droops his tail, but does not stir …

‘Hey answer, you there, show yourself.’

‘Who’s that waving the red flag?’

‘Try and see! It’s as dark as the tomb!’

‘Who’s that moving at a jog

trot, keeping to the back-street gloom?’

‘Don’t you worry ~ I’ll catch you yet;

better surrender to me alive!’

‘Come out, comrade, or you’ll regret

it ~ we’ll fire when I’ve counted five!’

Crack ~ crack ~ crack! But only the echo

answers from among the eaves …

The blizzard splits his seams, the snow

laughs wildly up the wirlwind’s sleeve …

Crack ~ crack ~ crack!

Crack ~ crack ~ crack!

… So they march with sovereign tread …

Behind them limps the hungry dog,

and wrapped in wild snow at their head

carrying a blood-red flag ~

soft-footed where the blizzard swirls,

invulnerable where bullets crossed ~

crowned with a crown of snowflake pearls,

a flowery diadem of frost,

ahead of them goes Jesus Christ.

Poetry Monster – Home

A few random poems:

External links

Bat’s Poetry Page – more poetry by Fledermaus

Talking Writing Monster’s Page –

Batty Writing – the bat’s idle chatter, thoughts, ideas and observations, all original, all fresh

Poems in English 

• Song—Willie brew’d a Peck o’ Maut by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Song—The Tear-drop—“Wae is my heart” by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Song—The Highland Balou by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Song—The Fall of the Leaf by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Song—The Birks of Aberfeldy by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Song—Sweet Afton by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Song—Stay my Charmer by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Song—She’s Fair and Fause by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Song—O Tibbie, I hae seen the day by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Song—O let me in this ae night by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Song—O can ye Labour Lea? by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Song—Fragment—Leezie Lindsay by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Song—Farewell to the Highlands by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Song—Farewell to the Banks of Ayr by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Song—Blythe hae I been on yon hill by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Song—Beware o’ Bonie Ann by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Song—Bessy and her Spinnin Wheel by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Song—Behold the Hour, the Boat, arrive by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Song—Behold, my love, how green the groves by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Song—Awa’, Whigs, Awa’ by Robert Burns by Robert Burns

More external links (open in a new tab):

Russian Commerce Agency

Dealing Monster

Doska or the Board – write anything

Search engines:

Yandex – the best search engine for searches in Russian (and the best overall image search engine, in any language, anywhere)

Qwant – the best search engine for searches in French, German as well as Romance and Germanic languages.

Ecosia – a search engine that supposedly… plants trees

Duckduckgo – the real alternative and a search engine that actually works. Without much censorship or partisan politics.

Yahoo– yes, it’s still around, amazingly, miraculously, incredibly, but now it seems to be powered by Bing.

 

Parallel Translations of Poetry

Poems by Author and Category

The Poetry Repository – an online library of poems, poetry, verse and poetic works