 | The Cavalier daily. Tuesday, September 17, 1968 |  |
June '68
The following is the full text of Russian poet Andrel Voznesensky's
poem "June '68," lamenting the assassination of Senator Robert F.
Kennedy. The poem will appear in the September 17 issue of The New
Republic.
Wild swans, wild swans, wild swans,
Northward, northward bound
Kennedy...Kennedy...the heart
Breaks at the sound.
Northward, northward bound
Kennedy...Kennedy...the heart
Breaks at the sound.
Of foreign politics
Not much may be understood;
But I do understand
A white cheek bathed with blood.
Not much may be understood;
But I do understand
A white cheek bathed with blood.
The idol of TV screens
In his funeral auto rides...
With bullets, bullets, bullets
Madmen proselytize.
In his funeral auto rides...
With bullets, bullets, bullets
Madmen proselytize.
When absently he shook
That head while yet intact
I thought of Yesenin
With his trembling forelock:
That head while yet intact
I thought of Yesenin
With his trembling forelock:
As on that poet's brow
a sickle-moon would brood-
For public effect, they thought,
But it proved to be for blood.
a sickle-moon would brood-
For public effect, they thought,
But it proved to be for blood.
How defenseless the challenger,
Politician or poet
When he topples to gunshot
Right through the TV set!
Politician or poet
When he topples to gunshot
Right through the TV set!
Oh, the roots of apple trees
Torn from orchard soil,
Mourn high on her balcony
There on the thirtieth floor!
Torn from orchard soil,
Mourn high on her balcony
There on the thirtieth floor!
Apple trees, apple trees...
Curse those bloody trees!
Let skyscraper-apples grieve,
Good but to guard a grave.
Curse those bloody trees!
Let skyscraper-apples grieve,
Good but to guard a grave.
Note: Voznesensky refers to apple trees that he remembers having seen
on the balcony of Mrs. John F. Kennedy's Fifth Avenue apartment,
which is on the fifteenth rather than on the thirtieth floor; Sergei
Yesenin, famous Soviet lyric poet, committed suicide in 1925 at the age
of thirty. This translation is by William Jay Smith and Nicholas Fersen.
| The Cavalier daily. Tuesday, September 17, 1968 | |