Solzhenitsyn's Prussian Nights

[ionelv]

From the gulag, Solzhenitsyn wrote a little poem. Here is a snippet:

Дом не жжен, но трепан, граблен.
Чей-то стон стеной ослаблен :
Мать – не на смерть. На матрасе,
Рота, взвод ли побывал -
Дочь-девчонка наповал.
Сведено к словам простым :
НЕ ЗАБУДЕМ ! НЕ ПРОСТИМ !
КРОВЬ ЗА КРОВЬ и зуб за зуб

Robert Conquest translated it as:

The little daughter’s on the mattress,
Dead. How many have been on it
A platoon, a company perhaps?
A girl’s been turned into a woman,
A woman turned into a corpse.
It's all come down to simple phrases:
Do not forget! Do not forgive!
Blood for blood! A tooth for a tooth!

Google translate made a butchery of the translation:

The house was not burned, but trepan, robbed.
Someone's groan is weakened by the wall:
Mother is not dead. On the mattress
Company, did the platoon visit -
Daughter-girl on the spot.
Reduced to simple words:
DO NOT FORGET! DO NOT FORGIVE!
BLOOD FOR BLOOD and tooth for tooth

The poem ended with these verses:

Между армиями, партиями, сектами проводят
Ту черту, что доброе от злого отличает дело,
А она — она по сердцу каждому проходит,
Линия раздела.

Google translated them as:

Between armies, parties, sects they draw
That line that distinguishes good from evil deeds,
And she - she runs through everyone's heart,
The dividing line.

The theme in these last verses (i.e. national repentance and self-restraint) was explored further by the author in 1973.