30.11.07
Poemas 181
Poems 181
To Raphael Eristavi
Soselo
(Josef Stalin)
When the laments of the toiling peasants
Had moved you to tears of pity,
You groaned to the heavens, oh Bard,
Placed at the head of the people's heads;
When the peiople's welfare
Had pleasantly exalted you,
You made your strings sweetly sound,
Like a man sent forth by heaven;
When you sang hymns to the motherland,
That was your love,
For her your harp brought forth
A heart-enrapturing twang...
Then oh Bard, a Georgian
Would listen to you as to a heavenly monument
And for your labors and woes of the past
Has crowned you with the present.
Your words have in his heart
Now put down roots;
Reap, grey-haired saint,
What you sowed in your youth;
For a sickle, use the people's
Heartfelt cry in the air:
"Hurray for Raphael! May there be many
Sons like thee in the fatherland!!"
