Lenin (April 22, 1870-January 21, 1924)

Where accidents of birth or whims of money

Determine the World’s value, high or low,

And gambling greed flits where the wealthy go,

Man’s bagatelle, a pawn, not worth a penny.

Thru this external fault, mankind has been

For ages dark, paltry amid profusion.

But empire’s siren-song, of Commerce queen,

Now ends, is changed in Life’s great revolution.

Each his own value now—life’s based on reason.

Now starts the blade sharp conflict that’s worldwide

Of mind and body, that new forms allow,

Being classless. At the delta mouth has risen

The Soviet workers’ sacrificial tide;

Brothers! your Bhagirath’s our Lenin, now.

Bishnu Dey

[The poem in Bengali, written before 1945, was translated by David Esbury]