Yevtushenko Sings
of the Day-After-Tomorrow*

Adapted by Hank Edson

Adam and Eve lived independently,

Independently, Noah built the ark,

But the Devil’s compulsive industry

And his army—spoke to parties after dark.
 

So politics passed into every apple—

The serpent’s pride and inventions of war

Were but seeds to sting the hungry people,

Worms to devour their nourishing core.
 

Thus, politics grew into garden police,

And assigned the separate countries—officers.

Then enslaved each soul to endless increase,
Spilling themselves into large party coffers.
 

But where do the people with no party stand?

Where send the lost and broken family

Caught between Maidanek and Magadan—

Where is escape between Auschwitz and My Lai?
 

One day our great-great grandchildren will tire

Of all these savage parties come and gone,

Will choose their freedom by setting fire

These mad empty doctrines—our Babylon.
 

When the world’s garden admits each heart

As a miracle made independent of plan,

There will be no victims pressed to their part

And love will exist between woman and man.
   

  

*This poem is an adaptation of the translation by William Jay Smith and Svetlana Kluge of Yevgeny Yevtushenko’s “Monologue of Day-After-Tomorrow’s Man.”