Kategorie: Poems
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When Tears No Longer Quench the Grief
Vladimir Vysotsky’s song Bratskiye Mogily (Mass Graves) The poem Mass Graves by the Russian guitar poet Vladimir Vysotsky, written in 1963, referred at the time to Russian victims in the Second World War. Today, however, we associate it with mass graves caused by Russia itself. No crosses can be seen on mass graves,here you…
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A Peace Prayer Against the Witchcraft of War
A Song by Boris Grebenshchikov about Good and Evil Magic In his song Vorozhba (Magic Powers), the Russian singer-songwriter Boris Grebenshchikov contrasts the evil magic of war with the healing magic of a life based on striving for harmony with oneself and the world. Grebenshchikov’s „No to War“ With Boris Grebenshchikov, another…
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Ilona Lay: In the Ancient Garden
In the Ancient Garden The dusk approaching like a timid horseand birches whispering serenely,hyacinths that on a bridgeof scents stretch out into the nightin the garden, in the ancient garden,when the voices of the feast fell silent. The moonlight opening a hidden gateand brooks embarking on a secret journey,crickets that…
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Ilona Lay: Early Morning
On Planet Literature, we celebrate Easter with a music video to a poem by Ilona Lay. Happy Easter! Early Morning Dreamily Mother Earth lolls in her sleepunder the clumsy embrace of the winds,her shivering shell still wrappedin the garment of the clouds. Winking between the pine stairs,the eye of the…
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The Dictator
A Poem Based on Ossip Mandelstam’s Stalin Epigram In 1933, Osip Mandelstam wrote a poem against Stalin, which he ultimately had to pay for with his life. In an adapted form, the poem can also be applied to autocratic rulers in general – not least the current Kremlin despot. We…
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Ilona Lay: Nocturnal Butterflies
A Poem from the Author’s Early Work In her poem Nachtfalter („Nocturnal Butterflies“), Ilona Lay creates the vision of a world determined by reflection and empathy. Especially today, this seems to be a fitting counter-image to our reality, which is marked by war and destruction. Ilona Lay has once again…
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