poem about a boy

True art knows no boundaries of time, and Igor Franceschi's poetry remains relevant even in our modern-day world. Some of his verses, written in 1947, possess a haunting relevance to current events, providing poetic perspectives on how people can be manipulated against their own self-interest into committing atrocities and even wars for the sake of ideology.

Translated from Russian into English by Elena Prozorova in 2022 (excerpt):

Poem About a Boy

In memory of Wilfred Owen, killed on the French front in 1918,

a week before the end of the WWI

Once there was a boy.

He was nice and kind.

He loved big words,

March songs,

And mother, but mother more, of course.

He trusted thick books and his elders,

And by the sound of war hymns

He dreamt of becoming a hero.

And thought the whole world was his.

He didn't know: Behind those big words

By certain elders and the country

His and his mother’s lives

Were valued at a small ants’ price.

<...> Suddenly the words were armed with steel,

And the idea had become a sword.

“Be a hero”! —The commanders shriek,

Giving orders to the squad.

And the boy, howling the words learned by heart,

Happily runs with the squad

To the place where "heroes" are made,

Not aware that he’s betrayed.

<...> Once there was a boy.

He was nice and kind. 

But he didn't become a hero. And of him

His mother would have cried by his grave,

But there was no grave. Instead,

Colorful flies buzzed and mated,

Using the boy’s ripped belly

As a lover's bed. 

1947