After reading Nadezda Mandelstams "Memoirs ", I am sure that Osip Mandelstam had a great sense of humor. Else, I would not have taken the enormous liberty of paraphrasing his miraculous poem "Epigram" (also known as “Stalin Epigram”) into some kind of limerick. What nerve! But I feel this poem must be transported into the present and future in every possible way. We can't forget it, it describes tyranny so presicely. And, sadly, it fits our times too. So here we go:
Another Epigram
A smartly dressed thug from Kremlin
Must think that people are dim
He shaved his cockroach mustashe,
And changed boots for panache
So he thinks we don't recognize him?
But his fat little fingers still grab
And his words fall down hard as a slab
He has shown his hoof
And whoever needs proof
Can feel how the shoes hit smack-dab!
Thin necks are bent over a keyboard
To spread every word from their lord
They still meow and squeak
And he still roars and speaks
Of his absolute right to be sore
But this time, the land touches our feet
We call him out whenever we meet
You can hear what we say
From ten miles away
Soon now, the riddance is sweet!
Very freely after Osip Mandelstam
Here is the poem “ Epigram”: