Sergei Mironovitch Kirov
Sergei Mironovitch Kirov
Original Text
Cornford, John. Collected Writings. Ed. by Jonathan Galassi. Manchester: Carcanet Press, 1986: 35-36.
1Nothing is ever certain, nothing is ever safe,
2To-day is overturning yesterday's settled good.
3Everything dying keeps a hungry grip on life.
4Nothing is ever born without screaming and blood.
5Understand the weapon, understand the wound:
6What shapeless past was hammered to action by his deeds,
7Only in constant action was his constant certainty found.
8He will throw a longer shadow as time recedes.
RPO poem Editors
Ian Lancashire, assisted by Ana Berdinskikh
RPO Edition
2009
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