Leftist poetry - Some Estonian poems (in English)

[Maaja]

The end of the world

Has someone imagined
That the end of the world can be here
That it comes today already
Straight to your homes
Pillarbox and field of waves
The end will come at once
Don't look to your courtyard
Better stare T.V.

It was Reagan, now it's Bush
Estonia turns into U$
And people shout without voice:
*We'd like some more hamburgers!*
Hear, read and flick through the papers
You will as well be a banana
Who can't see the curtains
From your armchair

The End of the world to your homes
And all the universe
Yells of joy
When a new article is completed

[Maaja]

Gringo's culture

We've got novel ethics now
Tactics of westernisation
To our country is coming the culture of the gringos

The scoundrels wearing ties
Are carrying the new culture
They have long ago got free
From the remorse for foreign currency

My republic has deceived me
My republic has no price
You can't find a man in republic
Who wouldn't sell himself for a kilogram of copper

With a BMW under his arse
And Pall Mall burning his teeth
An Estonian kama glutton believes
That he's some pure breed Occidental

Hey you business geniuses
You're working in the wrong direction
Your trafficking isn't trade
The economy will perish in your hands

Our upstarts are a bad breed
They don't have the knack
To become Europeanized
And to reach out of gringos
(I know it's good in U$
U$ should be moulded out of Estonia)

If there's a little commercial spirit
And a little broken English
Then the dreamland arrives
-Pseudo- U$

The child drinks Coke from mother's breast
And grandmother knits stretch-jeans
When the last dollar is left in my pocket
I'll hang myself by the feet

And our homeland will rejuvenate
When the old ones peg out of hunger
And our society will grow up
When the children kick the bucket

Oh big joy & benediction
The gringo's culture has come to our land!
Oh God save our stupid governement
And save our blessed people
Poor in spirit

[Maaja]

*Majority's* will


Bobby was a puny dumpy four-eyes
Good marks didn't make his life better
When *majority* of his classmates are sportsmen without glasses
The chance are that Bobby's glasses will be slashed to pieces

Bobby was a puny dumpy four-eyes
When he opened his mouth he got thumbed
And when he got a trashing, he got it from a gang
Trashing was the will of *majority*

Robert is now a bigassed bigwig
At the moment his will is in tune with *majority's* will
And do you think he still remembers his schooltime?
What has the being in oppressed taught him?
Does he stand now for those who are kicked?
Does he take care of those who are trampled into the mud?
No oh no, life taught him
That you have to yell together with the *majority*

I accpet oppressed, that have been brought down
I can't stand those who are leaning on the capitalism
I side with the fighters, those who think themselves
I can't stand those who yell together with the *majority*
I can't stand those who go to the west to make money
When there are people who work hard here for a mere pittance
I must stand for those between the cart wheel
The *majority's* will must not interest me

[Maaja]

In a certain country


In a certain country, certain men, in the name of certain ideology
Slaughtered each other, their women and their children
I wonder, if it's the Lebanon or maybe Liberia
At 10 o'clock tonight, I'll see that country on T.V.

I turn the switch and hear horror stories spoken in a soft voice
Little men fighting on a picture box
I can make the picture turn balck or green if I want
It's funny to see what goes on in a certain country

In a certain country, one child of four starves to death
Young mothers see themselves for a roll of bread
In a certain country, maybe Angola or Namibia
In a certain country, on my radio

I turn the switch and hear horror stories spoken in a soft voice
Children starved to death hiding in the box
I can add some bass or move the antenna
It's funny to hear that goes on in a certain country

In a certain country, people are killed on the streets
In China or in Armenia, the devil knows where
In a certain country Jews are persecuted one again
(Or maybe Palestinians?)
In a certain country, something happens all the time

I take a beer, open it, lift to my mouth
But first I check the bottle for mice
I turn on the T.V. and unplug the radio
I no longer know what goes on in a certain country

My country is my T.V. set and my beer bottle
And my ideas small and uncompromized
China doesn't exist, I don't belive in Armenia
They only exist inside a picture box