The poem "Listen" was written by Vladimir Mayakovsky as a call to an indifferent society in an attempt to bring it out of a hibernation. Full text below.
Version with improved sound: [ Ссылка ]

#motivationalpoem, #lifepoetry, #mayakovsky

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Vladimir Mayakovsky (July 19, 1893 – April 14, 1930) was a Russian and Soviet poet, playwright, artist, and actor. Mayakovsky's poems established him as one of the more original poets to come out of the Russian Futurism, a movement rejecting the traditional poetry in favor of formal experimentation, and welcoming the social change promised by modern technology. His verses, surreal, seemingly disjointed and nonsensical, relying on forceful rhythms and exaggerated imagery with the words split into pieces and staggered across the page, peppered with street language, were often considered unpoetic in literary circles at the time.
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Translated by Maria Enzensberger

Listen,
if stars are lit,
it means there is someone who needs it.
It means that someone wants them to be,
that someone deems those speckles of spit
magnificent.

And overwrought,
in the swirls of afternoon dust,
he bursts in on God,
afraid he might be already late.
In tears,
he kisses God's sinewy hand
and begs him to guarantee
that there will definitely be a star.
He swears
he won't be able to stand
that starless ordeal.

Later,
he wanders around, worried,
but outwardly calm.
And to someone else, he says:
"Now,
it's all right.
You are no longer afraid,
are you?"

Listen,
if stars are lit,
it means there is someone who needs it.
It means it is essential
that every evening
at least one star should ascend
over the crest of the building.

(1914)

The poem in the original Russian language: [ Ссылка ]
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This and other translations can be found at: [ Ссылка ]
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