An Inmate Who Became a Wave
Translation
by Gugo Veles, 2007
(Russian
original by Alexander Vvedensky, 1929)
Alas there was a tragic stool
And on that stool there was a mule
And on the mule an inmate stood
And faced the living through his hood
He stared at lakes and shaggy woods
Where craggy foxes looked for foods
Where chickens swam toward the bait
A squeaky jingle in a crate
The inmate wiggled his moustache
And dreamt of his abandoned stash
Of his abandoned can of dills
Of fluffy rugs and golden frills
He was so ill so smelly sick
Look at the running breathless moon
Look at the lying shameless freak
Washing his hives in the lagoon
Alas he was so raving sick
Alas he was a wavy streak
A town hall was in his sight
A meeting there buzzed all night
There stood a creature on the stage
And shook its pointless arms in rage
He is the bluebird of the earth
The people whispered with a nod
A ruler of tremendous wealth
He is indeed a mighty God
In fact a meager ant
was he
He crawled inside a big old tree
All day he toddled in the grass
In search for secret little bugs
Alas he was so mighty ill
Of flesh and bones and not of steel
He grabbed a skinny pyramid
He worshiped Queen Semiramide
He said I’m poor and I’m pale
I’m like a vermin starved and stale
Not much is left inside my gut
A liver or two a withered heart
The doctor said you’re wrong I fear
Your gnashing patience is a smear
A slur against the forest’s greens
An insult to the plants and trees
I’d like to give this to the world
The little poem that I wrote
“What’s all the fuss about green?
What else could plants and trees have been?
The clouds swim in marinade
The roosters dream in fairy land”
Your constant lectures are so lame
This talk of spiders honor fame
Just show me a half-empty glass
Inside of which a bulldog runs
He runs and growls woof-woof-woof
My dying lips will speak the truth
Just like an infant I am ill
I’m wearing thousands of scarves
Prescribe me please a healing pill
Thus speaks the inmate as he laughs
He sneezes south and sneezes north
The doctor is like a silent sword
He’s curled in the corner like a twig
The regiment dagger starts to speak
No more of this medical talk
My ears are about to pop
My tongue is sore and my nose is broken
My Adam’s apple is dripping like water
My leg is wiggling like an eel
My head all stings inside I feel
So many tiny needles bees
And thorns that rip my swollen knees
But here is an amazing thing
He now looks more like a pig
All day he’s lying on the couch
Thinks it’s a cotton-candy lounge
Imagining some dreamy fairies
Titian and Danae and Orpheus
Sparrows in-laws orangutans
Play an unseemly game of cards
But all of this was an illusion
A dream he dreamt in his delusion
It never drank the hearty potion
The world is suddenly in motion
The glass that lay on railroad tracks
Now simply nods along and cracks
The cow once ox’s pretty spouse
Is now an old and drunken louse
She gazes dimly at her glass
Inside of which the dog still runs
The star that sparkled in the sludge
Now crowns a morbid merchant’s bulge
The olden golden days have passed
Almighty Lord deliver us
Thus battles raged and daggers slashed
Thus fallen soldiers moaned and gnashed
Chubby and skinny short and tall
The shiny sword has pierced them all
Commanders gathered by their side
And marveled what a genocide
What if a savage tribesman roams
What if a Spanish marksman groans
What if a baby starts to cry
What if a birdie learns to fly
You are already dead I think
You’re not unlike a bathroom sink
The doctor spoke and washed his neck
Just like a vulture dressed in black
His fuzz was thick and very strong
His angst was bleak and very long
Alas the zoo contained a stool
Alas alas there stood a mule
There gathered horsemen for a rest
There fretted serpents with a vex
They held a difficult discourse
Do not deliver him a horse
Because alas he is a corpse
Don’t call him names and make him cry
Don’t come and poke him in the eye
Amongst the stools and mules that creep
He danced his dance and fell asleep
Again that nightmare with a stool
Why is that?