Monday, 5 October 2026

Anatoly Mariengof's poem about 1917 and the break with the past

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Anatoly Mariengof's poem about 1917 and the break with the past

Each day of ours is a new chapter of the Bible.
Each page will be Great to thousands of generations.
We are those of whom they will say:
"The lucky ones, they lived in 1917."
And you are still wailing: we are lost!
Still squandering your whimpers!
Foolish heads,
Is yesterday not crushed, like a pigeon
By a motor car
That has leapt furiously out of its garage?!

Literal translation

Anatoly Mariengof. Each Day of Ours

In the photograph: Sergey Yesenin and Anatoly Mariengof

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