Tag: Leo Tolstoy

Anna Akhmatova: Courage/Анна Ахматова: Мужество

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Anna Akhmatova: Courage

We know what trembles in the scales,
What has to be accomplished.
The hour for courage. If all else fails,
With courage we are not unfurnished.
What though the dead be crowded, each to each,
What though our houses be destroyed? —
We will preserve you, Russian speech,
Keep you alive, great Russian word.
We will pass you to our sons and heirs
Free and clean, and they in turn to theirs,
        And so forever.

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Maxim Gorky: Song of the Falcon + Bhikaiji Cama, Indian independence movement

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Song of the Falcon, Maxim Gorky

II

Laying in his crevice, Snake contemplated the death of Falcon, her love of flying. He lay a long time in the narrow crevice, staring into this puzzling air that teases the eyes of the misguided with silly dreams. 

– What did she see there, in total emptiness, without bottom or edge or cover? The likes of her, in death as living, why do they dare confuse one’s soul with their passion for skyward flying? What do they see there? What do they hear? And might not I grasp all its meanings if I could fly there for just one moment? 

Snake said – and did it! His body tightened, he fast uncoiled, cutting through the air, like a flash of lightning. 

Those born to crawl – will never fly!.. Forgetting that, Snake hit the stones; not hurt, however, he thought, elated: 

– So, that’s the beauty of skyward flying! It is – in falling!.. Birds are so foolish! Not knowing earth, depressed when grounded, they feel the calling to rise to heaven and seek life’s pleasures in empty vastness. It is but empty. It is filled with light but void of food and of protection for us the living. Why, then, was Falcon so bold and proud? Just to conceal the sheer madness of her desires and lack of fitness among the living. Birds are so foolish!.. But I am wiser! I shan’t be bullied by their tattles. I know now! I saw their heaven, the sky of flying. I launched into it, its depths I measured; endured falling, but did not shudder, and gained much confidence from this endeavor. Let those wretches who cannot love this solid ground live in delusion. I know the truth. I won’t be fooled. Of earth created – by earth I’m living. 

And feeling proud, he coiled tightly, and was quite happy.

H/T: The USSR Tomorrow

Related:

Radical Books: Maxim Gorky, ‘Song of the Falcon’ (1894)

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New York Times admits, then covers up, massive Ukraine casualties

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)1 Comment

Since January of this year, the New York Times has published dozens of articles claiming that Ukraine’s “spring offensive” would be a decisive turning point in the war with Russia. But this offensive, now six weeks old, has turned into a debacle. While Ukrainian forces have nowhere breached Russia’s main defensive line, tens of thousands of troops have died.

New York Times admits, then covers up, massive Ukraine casualties

Volodymyr Zelensky and ethnopolitics

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

President Zelensky has just been named by Time magazine “politician of the year 2022”. It is not to have realized his coup de force of July, in favor of the war. He had all the political parties that opposed him banned; assassinated the personalities who resisted him; controlled all the media, written, audiovisual and internet; banned the Russian language; destroyed 100 million books; confiscated many of the assets of the oligarchs, including the one who personally financed him; nationalized the assets of Russian investors and companies; and finally banned the Orthodox Church.

Volodymyr Zelensky and ethnopolitics