Russian poetry - Konstantin Simonov - Kill Him (Ubey yego), 1942 - English subtitles

Konstantin Simonov (1915—1979) - Russian and Soviet author, war correspondent during WWII and well-known war poet. Poem of Konstantin Simonov "Kill him" reads Mikhail Tsariov - a folk artist of the USSR (1903—1987).

Complete English text in a version of poem from 1942 year:

Constantine Simonov - KILL HIM

If your house means a thing to you
Where you first dreamed your Russian dreams
In your swinging cradle, afloat
Beneath the log ceiling beams.
If your house means a thing to you
With its stove, corners, walls and floors
Worn smooth by the footsteps of three
Generations of ancestors.

If your small garden means a thing:
With its May blooms and bees humming low,
With its table your grandfather built
Neath the linden - a century ago.
If you don't want a German to tread
The floor in your house and chance
To sit in your ancestors' place
And destroy your yard's trees and plants

If your mother is dear to you
And the breast that gave you suck
Which hasn't had milk for years
But is now where you put your cheek;
If you cannot stand the thought
Of a German's doing her harm.
Beating her furrowed face
With her braids wound round his arm.
And those hands which carried you
To your cradle washing instead
A German's dirty clothes
Or making him his bed .

[763]
[If you haven't forgotten your father
Who tossed you and teased your toes,
Who was a good soldier, who vanished
In the high Carpathian snows,
Who died for your motherland's fate,
For each Don and each Volga wave,
If you don't want him in his sleeping
To turn over in his grave,
When a German tears his soldier picture
With crosses from its place
And before your own mother's eyes
Stamps hobnailed boots on his face.]

If you don't want to give away
Her you walked with and didn't touch,
Her you didn't dare even to kiss
For a long time - you loved her so much,
And the Germans cornering her
And taking her alive by force,
Crucifying her - three of them
Naked, on the floor; with coarse
Moans, hate, and blood, -
Those dogs taking advantage of
All you sacredly preserved
With your strong, male love.

If you don't want to give away
To a German with his black gun
Your house, your mother, your wife
All that's yours as a native son
No: No one will save your land
If you don't save it from the worst.
No: No one will kill this foe,
If you don't kill him first.

And until you have killed him, don't
Talk about your love - and
Call the house where you lived your home
Or the land where you grew up your land.

[765]
If your brother killed a German,
If your neighbor killed one too,
It's your brother's and neighbor's vengeance,
And it's no revenge for you.
You can't sit behind another
Letting him fire your shot.
If your brother kills a German,
Hes a soldier; you are not.

So kill that German so he
Will lie on the ground's backbone,
So the funeral wailing will be
In his house, not in your own.
He wanted it so It's his guilt
Let his house burn up, and his life.
Let his woman become a widow;
Don't let it be your wife.
Don't let your mother tire from tears;
Let the one who bore him bear the pain.
Don't let it be yours, but his
Family who will wait in vain.

So kill at least one of them
And as soon as you can. Still
Each one you chance to see!
Kill him! Kill him! Kill!

July 1942.

Constantine Mikhailovich Simonov. Kill Him // Modern Russian Poetry: An Anthology with Verse Translations. Edited and with an Introduction by Vladimir Markov and Merrill Sparks. The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Inc., 1967 - 842 p. - P. 761, 763, 765.

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[Sale77]

Noble rage.

[ksendzsurala]

@bradbond100 If you trust that there was a possibility to win over the mad German beast with a help of a big Christian love, you can drink a poison. You, our allies purchased your victory by a price of our huge victims and blood. And now you reprobate us for our cruelty to our killers, executioners and tormentors, it is a real hypocrisy and pharisaism.

[Parchyne]

The english is nothing compared to the russian

[MultiheadedD]

I'm Russian, and I'd like to say that, totally regardless of the actual historical circumstances, this poem just feels grand and terrible, in an awesome way. People should appreciate it for what it is before arguing history, ethics or whatever.

[ksendzsurala]

Или ты просто не понимаешь того, что я писал по русски? Понимаю, теперь у вас холуев новый хозяин и язык прежних хозяев вам не нужен. Но я не буду учить языка твоих хозяев, чтобы общаться с такой мелкой шушерой как ты и тебе подобные. Мне этого не надо. Это мой язык учат до сих пор в половине мира и владеют им до 300 миллионов человек - то есть в 2 раза больше чем собственно русских. А моего убогого английского хватит, чтобы допросить перед расстрелом врага, пиздящего на этом собачьем наречии.

[ksendzsurala]

Да какое тебе до этого дело? Твоя страна дешевая марионетка, которая меняет хозяев по три-четыре раза в столетие, при этом не уставая лизать сапоги новому хозяину и дристать на сапоги прежнего хозяина. Типичное поведение холуев.

[ksendzsurala]

@ponaskocelas К сожалению, дорогой литовский свинопас, в то время не было иной альтернативы - либо ты гитлерист, либо сталинист. Твоя вшивая страна выбрала гитлеризм. "Силы Добра" (твой любимый "демократический" Запад) однозначно молились за победу Великого и Славного вождя Сталина. Приравнивать сегодня Сталина к Гитлеру - это некрасиво, это ложь, подлость.

[ponaskocelas]

@ksendzsurala Why do you think I should sing in SS? I hate nazis ideology, they are killers, just like stalinists. Once again you've proven that you're only argumentation is irrational nonsences and insults.

[ksendzsurala]

@ponaskocelas Тебя, крыса болотная, не спрашивали. Беги записывайся в свое SS, холуй и скотник германский, а то опоздаешь.

[mpeiranouruguay]

@ksendzsurala We have a town in Uruguay called "San Javier" whose people are mostly descentants from Russian inmigrants from the early XX century. Some come from the Dombass. They have mostly lost the Russian language but still cook Russian dishes and attend church in the Russian Orthodox faith. Cheers my friend, Miguel.

[mpeiranouruguay]

I am not a "patriot". I also question "truths" about the history of my own country. It is human nature to question. It isn't helpful to accuse people who don't think like you of "enemies of the people". I have not read a couple of books about Russian history, I have read dozens, many of them by Russian authors. It is healthy to question what passes for established truth. The stalinist regime was a criminal regime, even communists say it. And the soviet experiment was an unmitigated disaster.