III 
Our sons have gone 
to serve the Reds 
to serve the Reds 
to risk their heads! 

O bitter,bitter pain, 
Sweet living! 
A torn overcoat 
an Austrian gun! 

-To get the bourgeosie 
We'll start a fire 
a worldwide fire, and drench it 
 in blood- 
The good Lord bless us! 


-O you bitter bitterness, 
boring boredom, 
deadly boredom. 

This is how I will 
spend my time. 

This is how I will 
scratch my head, 

munch on seeds, 
some sunflower seeds, 

play with my knife 
play with my knife. 

You bourgeosie, fly as a sparrow! 
I'll drink your blood, 

your warm blood, for love, 
for dark-eyed love. 

God, let this soul, your servant, 
 rest in peace. 

Such boredom! 


XII 
... On they march with sovereign tread... 
`Who else goes there? Come out! I said 
come out!? It is the wind and the red 
flag plunging gaily at their head. 

The frozen snow-drift looms in front. 
`Who?s in the drift! Come out! Come here!? 
There?s only the homeless mongrel runt 
limping wretchedly in the rear ... 

`You mangy beast, out of the way 
before you taste my bayonet. 
Old mongrel world, clear off I say! 
I?ll have your hide to sole my boot! 

The shivering cur, the mongrel cur 
bares his teeth like a hungry wolf, 
droops his tail, but does not stir ... 
`Hey answer, you there, show yourself.? 

`Who?s that waving the red flag?? 
`Try and see! It?s as dark as the tomb!? 
`Who?s that moving at a jog 
trot, keeping to the back-street gloom?? 

`Don?t you worry ~ I?ll catch you yet; 
better surrender to me alive!? 
`Come out, comrade, or you?ll regret 
it ~ we?ll fire when I?ve counted five!? 

Crack ~ crack ~ crack! But only the echo 
answers from among the eaves ... 
The blizzard splits his seams, the snow 
laughs wildly up the wirlwind?s sleeve ... 

Crack ~ crack ~ crack! 
Crack ~ crack ~ crack! 
... So they march with sovereign tread ... 
Behind them limps the hungry dog, 
and wrapped in wild snow at their head 
carrying a blood-red flag ~ 
soft-footed where the blizzard swirls, 
invulnerable where bullets crossed ~ 
crowned with a crown of snowflake pearls, 
a flowery diadem of frost, 
ahead of them goes Jesus Christ.