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bujhm ([personal profile] bujhm) wrote2022-04-28 02:55 pm

Lord God is Leaving This Country

Перевод Яны Кане стихотворения "Господь Бог покидает эту страну".

“Due to the current international circumstances,
And taking into consideration certain aspects of the situation,
We inform you of a difficult decision:
Lord God is leaving this country.”

It seems as if nothing has changed.
No one is packing their favorite coffee maker and mug,
None of the angels are getting into their Lexus sedans,
No private jet has been seen taking off the back runway.
“There is no reason to panic,” intones the TV set.
“We have domestically-produced replacements.
This is a part of the conspiracy against us.
All property left behind will be nationalized.”
“Should’ve done this ages ago!” A veteran of something or other (*) foams at the mouth.
“If we had not done this,
It would have been done by NATO soldiers!”
“What do you need God for?” a government bureaucrat—
with the face of a cranky baby—is sincerely puzzled.
“See, I get up in the morning, have a hearty meal, and all is fine.
There is no God, but you hold on in there.” (**)

It seems as if nothing is changing—
The buildings with the crosses on top keep their places,
People enter them on the same schedule.
The woman next door sighed gloomily for a long while, then declared:
“It wasn’t quite so hard before.
You’d go, say a prayer, and it would ease off some.”
“And what about now?” I asked her.
“Dunno. I feel like strangling somebody.”

And all around things are off kilter just a bit:
Hideous houses and trees.
People try not to look at each other.
Poems are written with no rhyme, no rhythm.
An acquaintance sent me a link to a petition —
Said we need signatures, to demand that He brought back.
But we have lost count of the days of the war.
I figure, as it is, He had held off for quite a while.

It seems that nothing will change—
All that can happen has already happened.
There is a need to run somewhere, scream, seek,
But without stirring, without making a sound,
To find someone
Inside yourself.

“Due to the current international circumstances,
And taking into consideration certain aspects of the situation,
We inform you of a difficult decision:
Lord God is leaving this country.”


Notes

(*) Allusion to the increasingly bombastic and aggressive tone of the celebrations of the Soviet victory in World War II. These celebrations regularly attract “dress-up veterans”: unscrupulous people who dress up in WWII military uniforms, decorate their chests with multiple medals and claim to be war heroes in order to attract attention and adulation. In reality, they were not participants of the war at all, having been toddlers during the war, or born after the war.

(**) Allusion to Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev infamous quote: “There is no money. Hold on in there,” In 2016 Medvedev gave this response in Crimea when he was asked by a local elderly woman when the state pensions would increase to the levels promised during the 2014 annexation. Medvedev’s reply went viral in Russia. It acquired the same connotation as the phrase “Let them eat cake”. (In fact, there was a line of cakes produced in Russia with Medvedev’s quote. Eventually these cakes attracted the attention of the government and their production was banned.)


Upd: в исполнении переводчика.

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