Goodbye, America, My Country!

From The People's Cube:

This October I received a few chain mails from my Russian-speaking friends with a Russian-language poem titled "Goodbye, America" by Alexander Matlin, an ex-Soviet satirist now living in New Jersey. Brilliantly written, it contained all signs of the traditional Russian nostalgia with references to erstwhile Soviet realities. I didn't post it then because the American masses reading this organ are not yet proficient in the Mother Tongue.

But last night I received a masterful translation into kapitalist from our bi-lingual reader Ilya Kazakov, who wrote: "Dear Red Square and the staff! No longer being able to hold my emotions and my unstoppable desire to serve the collective, I made a bold move and translated into English a poem written by one of our former countrymen, Alexander Matlin. To show my dedication to the cause and my steadfast loyalty to the idea of building a better future for all, I have attached both the original and the translated versions. I am sure you will find that posting this informative material on your site will serve the cause of helping many of our English-speaking comrades see the light and join the movement."

~ ПРОЩАЙ, АМЕРИКА!
(Александр Матлин)

Прощай, страна моя родная!
Прощай, Америка! Вот-вот
Над континентом засияет
Социализма небосвод.

От Сан-Диего до Детройта
От Айдахо до Теннеси
Мы наш, мы новый мир построим,
Как на советской, на Руси.

Долой капитализма рабство!
Мы без сомнений и помех
Перераспределим богатство,
Чтоб было поровну у всех.

Получат равные зарплаты
Все дети солнечной страны.
Не будет бедных и богатых,
Бедны все будут, но равны.

Мы к цели рвёмся неуклонно,
Уж наши чаянья близки,
Уже построены в колонны
Acorn' а славные полки.

Звучит сигнал: вперёд, к надежде!
Народ ликует: Yes, we can!
И скромный ОН в простой одежде,
Нас к горизонту перемен

Ведёт. Раздумывать не нужно:
ОН руку держит на руле.
А мы протянем руку дружбы
Венесуэле, Хезболе,

Хамасу, Северной Корее,
Ирану, Кубе - всем подряд.
Мы извинимся, покраснеем,
И нас, наверное, простят.

Мы их накормим - всех, конечно,
(Ведь больше нет у нас врагов),
И будет нас любить сердечно
Весь мир голодных и рабов.

Не будет нам пути обратно,
Мы, как один, пойдём вперёд.
Мы будем всех лечить бесплатно,
Чтоб здоровел у нас народ,

Мы будем все любить друг друга,
ЕГО, родного, - обожать.
Мы запретим и нефть, и уголь,
Планету чтоб не засорять.

В своём стремлении упорном
Убить капитализма зло
Мы остановим global warming -
Преступных бизнесов тепло.

И будут дети повсеместно
Стихами хором говорить,
Родного лидера за детство
Счастливое благодарить.

Не станут поклоняться люди
Неузаконенным богам.
В особенном почёте будет
ЕГО религия - ислам.

Ни христианство, ни еврейство
Не будут более в ходу.
А ЦРУ, гнездо злодейства,
Мы просто предадим суду.

А следом - мы в победном звоне
Врагов начнём крушить вразнос,
Засевших тайно в Пентагоне
И на TV, в канале Fox.

Партийных разногласий раны
Пройдут, как сон, сойдут, как снег,
И все республиканцы станут,
Социалистами навек.

Все будут счастливы, до страсти
Себя и ближнего любя.
А если кто не будет счастлив -
Пускай пеняет на себя.

Темнеет небо, блещут звёзды
Сковал мороз теченье рек.
И бьёт озноб: неужто поздно
Остановить безумства бег?

Как мы ни прятались, опять нам
Грозит социализма зверь.
Всё так знакомо! Так понятно!
Опять бежать? Куда теперь?

GOODBYE, AMERICA!
(translated by Ilya Kazakov)

Goodbye, America, my country!
Goodbye, my dearest, goodbye.
Above our heads is rising sultry,
Socialistic crimson sky.

From Western lands to the Eastern border
From Northern lakes to Florida estates
We will create a better social order
Just like the one they had in the Soviet states.

Denounce profits, where they abound!
With neither doubt nor redundant care
We'll redistribute wealth around
So everyone enjoys an equal share!

For all the people of this sunny nation
We'll moderate an equal monthly pay.
By way of total wealth elimination.
We'll all get poor. Poor, but the same!

We strive towards this noble goal untiring.
We are so close, we're sure almost there.
Already numerous Acorn battalions
Are waiting for the final signal flare.

And then we heard HIS voice elated:
"The hope!", "The change", and "Yes, we can!"
HE, neatly dressed, for stardom slated,
To build this land anew began.

Aside cast doubts, qualms, and fears
HIS hand steers firmly towards the sun.
For us... We shall extend a hand to peers:
Iran, Al-Qaida, Cuba, Taliban.

Venezuela, China, North Korea
Hamas and Burma, and everyone else.
We'll blush, apologize. For this idea
They will forgive us our offense.

We'll feed them all, of course no strings attaching.
(They're our foes no more just so you know).
And then at last, our behavior so touching,
The world will love us dearly once more.

There won't be turning back allowed
We'll press ahead together, no dissent.
We'll treat the sick for free of charge, no doubt
To keep the workforce healthy and content.

We'll love ourselves and one another.
For godly deeds, we'll simply worship HIM.
Instead of burning oil and coal we rather
Should keep this country and the planet green.

While stubbornly ahead we're storming
The evil of capitalism killing,
We'll stop the spread of global warming
And heat producing shameless profiteering.

Let children of this people's nation
Recite aloud cheerful hoorays.
And thank their leader with exhilaration
For childhood full of happy, sunny days.

No more of unapproved persuasions.
No more of undesirable qualms.
We'll come to love with utter adulation
HIS own, true religion - Islam.

We won't have need for Christ or Moses
What purpose do they now have for us?
And the CIA that trouble causes
We'll simply throw under the bus.

And then, atop white horses riding,
We'll crush the villains at their crux.
Who secretly in Pentagon are hiding,
And on TV, on the channel Fox.

The parties' quarrels irritating
Will melt like a snow on a grassy knoll
With all Republicans rotating
To "socialistas" once and for all.

We'll all be happy and ecstatic
Ourselves and neighbors loving while.
And if you're not... Well, there's the Arctic
Where one may end up in exile.

The sky gets dark, the night is scary.
A frost chained any glimpse of thought.
It's cold and we're feeling wary...
Can't we stop madness's onslaught?

We ran from it, yet again it's shown
In Socialism's ugly scowl.
It's so familiar, so known.
Shall we run again? But where now?

And from one of the People's Cube comments on this post, consider this poem by Claude McKay, an American black civil rights activist who, ironically, saw Soviet Communism as superior to the America of the mid-20th century:

If we must die, let it not be like hogs
Hunted and penned in an inglorious spot,
While round us bark the mad and hungry dogs,
Making their mock at our accursed lot.
If we must die, O let us nobly die,
So that our precious blood may not be shed
In vain; then even the monsters we defy
Shall be constrained to honor us though dead!
O kinsmen! We must meet the common foe!
Though far outnumbered, let us show us brave,
And for their thousand blows, deal one deathblow!
What though before us lies the open grave?
Like men, we'll face the murderous, cowardly pack,
Pressed to the wall, dying, but fighting back!

Do you understand yet?