A offering to the Great Leader from the Poetry Czar
of the Greenpoint Autonomous Region of Leaderonia
in honor of the Great Delivery...if a bit late...
Listen,
if stars are lit
it means - there is someone who needs it.
It means - someone wants them to be,
that someone deems those specks of spit
magnificent.
And overwrought,
in the swirls of afternoon dust,
he bursts in on the Great Leader,
afraid he might be already late.
In tears,
he kisses the Great Leader's sinewy hand
and begs him to guarantee
that there will definitely be a star.
He swears
he won't be able to stand
that starless ordeal.
Later,
He wanders around, worried,
but outwardly calm.
And to everyone else, he says:
'Now,
it's all right.
You are no longer afraid,
are you?'
Listen,
if stars are lit,
it means - there is someone who needs it.
It means it is essential
that every evening
at least one star should ascend
over the crest of the building.
1914
(Vladimir Mayakovsky, translated by the Czar)