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Home  »  Modern Russian Poetry  »  Alexander Blok (1880–1921)

Deutsch and Yarmolinsky, comps. Modern Russian Poetry. 1921.

From “The Twelve”

Alexander Blok (1880–1921)

9


THE CITY’S roar is far away,

Black silence broods on Neva’s brink.

No more police! We can be gay,

Comrades, without a drop to drink.

A boorzhooy, a lonely mourner,

His nose tucked in his ragged fur,

Stands lost and idle on the corner,

Tagged by a cringing, mangy cur.

The boorzhooy like a hungry mongrel:

A silent question stands and begs;

The old world like a kinless mongrel

Stands there, its tail between its legs.