"We can't stand…"

We can’t stand sitting still.

We try, no holds barred, to be liked

by ourselves, friends, the opposition, and the authorities

(I no longer even speak about women).

Then we want to be liked by the country,

then the earth’s globe and the epoch,

then by our descendants, and, as a result

our own wives don’t like us.

Translated by Albert C. Todd This poem appeared in The Collected Poems, 1952-1990 by Yevgeny Yevtushenko, published by Henry Holt & Co, 1991.

10.09.2026

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