240 KONGRES OWKA
* What's all this uproar, pundits of the nations?
Why do you threaten Russia with anathema?
Is it the riots in Lithuania that have given you such offence?
Lay off! This is a quarrel of Slavs among themselves,
An old, domestic quarrel already weighed by Fate,
An issue which won't be solved by you.
These tribes have engaged in hostilities for centuries.
First their side, then ours, would often bow before the storm.
Who will stand firm in this unequal contest,
The conceited Pole, or the faithful Russian?
Shall the Slav rivers merge into the Russian sea,
Or shall the sea itself run dry? That's the question.
Leave us alone. You have not read the bloody reckoning.
For you, these family antagonisms are strange and meaningless.
Neither the Kremlin, nor Praga, means anything to you. cont.l