In Peking there is a very gloomy weather, In Tambov, we’re taking a break for lunch. From Tambov we’re writing all together, To the more than a half billion bunch. Remember how you didn’t sign the treaty, You brought affliction to every living soul. By distorting the facts you proved very neatly That to you much dearer is General de Gaulle. And every day we may speak louder and louder, But if the ancient times we should recall; That it was you who made the gunpowder, And also built the ancient Chinese Wall. We understand all of your people now, To kill three hundred million, a make-believe, But we are sure that even Comrade Mao, By God, would rather want to live. When you ate rice in your Oriental land, You manifested the internationalism. And we are sure that while you ate the Russian bread, You didn’t speak about the revisionism. You are afraid of revanchists in Bonn, That Washington threatens to go far... But Khrushcev himself said at the UN, That we will show them, suckers, who we are. You do not need atomic bombs and missiles, Do not prepare for the war, you know, We will inflict on them, if a need arises, A friendly thermonuclear blow. And if you itch for work - don’t tell us lies, We are sure that you have a lot of work to do: Decrease the birthrate, kill all your flies, Exterminate all your sparrows, too. And don’t stick your nose into our business, We ourselves know what we have or not, As our Politburo stated in an open letter, That we approve of their line quite a lot.
© Nathan Mer. Translation, 1991