Good Should Have Fists...
«Добро должно быть
с кулаками...»
Good should have
fists, and tail, and pointed horns,
And hoofs, and a beard, fur-covered and feisty;
We hear its stomp, we see its breathing burns,
One day it'll come for us to bring to justice!
Look, here it comes, preparing for a fight,
With poison running from the tusks to ground,
The tail is whipping rough and shaggy sides,
It howls ominously, its horns are touching cloud.
My friend, I wish you Good (as well as health),
My verse reminds you: Good is good at munching;
And in the night, we'll hear your piercing "Help!"
And then just loud chewing and crunching...
Dmitry Bagretsov
translated by Valerie Livina
Yevgeny Yevtushenko records that in the 1950s, the phrase
'Good should have fists...' was given to students at the Moscow
Literary Institute by Michael Svetlov. The most celebrated
version was by Stanislav Kunyaev.
More recently, Dmitry Bagretsov produced his version, which you can read here in Russian.
If you have any
thoughts on this translation, Valerie Livina would be
pleased to hear them.