C.D. Warner, et al., comp. The Library of the World’s Best Literature.
An Anthology in Thirty Volumes. 1917.

The Russian Soldier

Translation of John Pollen

THEN up there comes a veteran,

With medals on his breast;

He scarcely lives, but yet he strives

To drink with all the rest.

“A lucky man am I,” he cries,

And thus to prove the fact he tries:

“In what consists a soldier’s luck?

Pray listen while I tell.

In twenty fights or more I’ve been,

And yet I never fell.

And what is more, in peaceful times

Full weal I never knew;

Yet all the same, I have contrived

Not to give Death his due.

Again, for sins both great and small

Full many a time they’ve me

With sticks unmercifully flogged,

Yet I’m alive, you see!”