Rank: Advanced Member
Joined: 11/23/2011
Posts: 115
Neurons: 2,679
Location: Kraków, Lesser Poland Voivodeship, Poland
|
I'm looking for the source of these two quotes. One is definitely Mandelstam, the other probably also Mandelstam. By source I mean the Russian title(s). Does anyone recognize these lines?
***
People who are hungry, who are sick,
Will kill, will suffer cold, will hunger.
And in his famous grave
The unknown soldier will be laid.
***
Our only kin is what is in excess.
Ahead lies no downfall, but a misstep,
And wrestling for sufficient air
Is not a glory that impresses others.
And overstocking consciousness
With half-waking routine living,
Do I have no choice but to drink this slop,
And eat my own head under fire in battle?
|
Rank: Newbie
Joined: 10/1/2020
Posts: 2
Neurons: 10,541
|
The both quotes are from Mandelstam's poem The Unknown Soldier (Стихи о неизвестном солдате).
The first quote in Russian:
Будут люди холодные, хилые
Убивать, голодать, холодать,
И в своей знаменитой могиле
Неизвестный положен солдат.
And the second:
Нам союзно лишь то, что избыточно,
Впереди — не провал, а промер,
И бороться за воздух прожиточный —
Это слава другим не в пример.
И сознанье своё затоваривая
Полуобморочным бытиём,
Я ль без выбора пью это варево,
Свою голову ем под огнём?
Here's it in Russian and in English translation (but this variant of translation differs from yours):
https://ruverses.com/osip-mandelshtam/the-unknown-soldier/
|