–Leonid Martynov
Where is Lenin ?
In the Mausolium .
Upon a Medal. On our star.
Where is Lenin ?
Jubiless,museums….
Yet still I seek him ,near and far .
Where is he ?
There is stands on bookshelves
But can he stay for centuries
On pedastals,deprived of movement
And in the gloom of libraries !
Where is he ?
Night arrives and lures us .
In dreams our worries to dissolves
But Lenin looks in through the window;
Have all your problems been resolved ?
Where is he ?
Here’s his Kremlin study
His flat-all where they ought to be .
Where is he, though ?
Where people settle
Their planet’s common destinity.
(The poem was translated by Dorian Rottenberg from Russian into English. It is included in the collection Lenin in Soviet Poetry, compiled by B. V. Yakovlev. The collection was published in 1965 by Progress Publishers, Moscow.)
