by Boris Pasternak
Here-now-our age of socialism!
Here in the thick of life below.
Today in the name of things to be
Into the future forth we go.
Like Georgia shining in her beauty,
Like a land of light by open seas,
It beckons-veiled within a mist
Of wild surmise and theories.
There mothers of Putivl no more
Lament like cuckoos their dismay;
There joy no longer looks askance
In fear, but walks abroad by day.
There life and happiness converse
Together, free from hate and strife,
All joined to give their saving strength
And stay to every child and wife.
There men no longer by exchange
Compute the things they have or owe,
But gladly spend themselves in giving-
The all they have, the all they know.
Then let my message overtake
This wondrous age in history:
O may my children in their gladness
Out of the future answer me!
Last updated January 14, 2019