Listen! by Vladimir Mayakovsky

Author:Vladimir Mayakovsky
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2017-01-06T16:00:00+00:00

MAYAKOVSKY

Ladies and gentlemen, patch up my soul.

It could not leak if it were hollow.

Is a spit a blow? How am I to know?

A boulder-stone is as arid as I, you’ve milked me dry.

Ladies and gentlemen,

come to the show:

this very moment,

a great poet will dance before you.

MAYAKOVSKY

(raises his hand, takes centre stage)

Don’t rub malice into hearts’ ends! You,

my children,

I’ll teach

resolutely and eagerly:

all of you people

are mere bells

tinkling on God’s headgear.

With a foot swollen by a quest I have covered your continent and many other lands.

(he pauses)

And again,

soaked in blood and sweat, like a slave,

I am rocking my body with madness.

Incidentally,

I found her once — the soul.

She appeared in a florid dressing gown and said:

‘Please be seated. I’ve been waiting for you for a long time Would you like a cup of tea?’

(he pauses)

I am a poet,

I’ve erased the difference between the faces of friend and foe.

In every mortuary, I looked for sisters.

I kissed the leprous lacy sores.

And today,

on yellow bonfires,

having buried the tears of the seas,

I shall burn the disgrace of sisters and grey-haired mothers’ wrinkles.

Off the plates of licentious feasts,

we’ll be gobbling your meat, carnal century!

(He moves to the side, softly)

Ladies and gentlemen, haven’t you heard somewhere —

I believe in Brazil — there is one happy creature.

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