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Modern Russian Poetry/The Salt Song

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1562183Modern Russian Poetry — The Salt SongNikolay Nekrasov

THE SALT SONG

(From "Who Can Live Happily in Russia?")

God's will be done!
No food he'll try,
The youngest son—
Look, he will die.

A crust I got,
Another bit—
He touched it not:
"Put salt on it!"

Of salt no shred,
No pinch I see!
"Take flour, instead,"
God whispered me.

Two bites, or one—
His mouth he pouts,
The little son.
"More salt!" he shouts.

The bit appears
Again all floured,
And wet with tears
It was devoured.

The mother said
She'd saved her dear. . . .
Salt was the bread—
How salt the tear!


 This work is a translation and has a separate copyright status to the applicable copyright protections of the original content.

Original:

This work was published before January 1, 1929, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.

Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse

Translation:

This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before January 1, 1929.


This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.

Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse