Maria Tsvetaeva
They took–suddenly–and took–openly–
They took–suddenly–and took–openly–
took mountains–and took their entrails,
they took coal and took steel,
from us, lead they took–and crystal.
They took the sugar, and took the clover,
they took the North and took the West,
they took the beehive, and took the haystack,
they took the South from us, and the East.
Vari–they took and Tatras–they took,
they took our fingers–took our friends–
but we're not done for–
as long as there's spit in our mouths!
--from Poems to Czechia
Russian, trans. Jean Valentine
& Ilya Kaminsky
Maria Tsvetaeva, Russian, trans. Jean Valentine &
Ilya Kaminsky, 2009.