Wooden cigarette box carved by Г. САВИНСКИ (?; G. Savinskiy), a Russian POW. The Grim Reaper strides across a field of skulls on the cover. The base includes an intricate carving of the years of war years, '1914' and, turning it 90 degrees, '1918.'

ПДМЯТЬ ВОИНЬ 1914-18



To the memory of the soldiers 1914-18



Reverse:

1914

1918

Г. САВИНСКИ (?)

G. Savinskaya

Other views: Larger, Back, Back

Tuesday, April 4, 1916

"The Vulture

Describing circle after circle

a wheeling vulture scans a field

lying desolate. In her hovel

a mother's wailing to her child :

'Come, take my breast, boy, feed on this,

grow, know your place, shoulder the cross.'



Centuries pass, villages flame,

are stunned by war and civil war.

My country, you are still the same,

tragic, beautiful as before.

How long must the mother wail?

How long must the vulture wheel?"

Quotation Context

'The Vulture' by Russian poet Alexander Blok, dated April 4, 1916 (March 22 Old Style). The translator points out that the vulture, in the original Russian, is a kite, a bird of prey as well as a scavenger.

Source

The Twelve and Other Poems by Alexander Blok, page 140, copyright © 1970 by Jon Stallworthy & Peter France, publisher: Oxford University Press, publication date: 1970

Tags

1916-04-04, 1916, April, The Vulture, vulture, Blok