Off-Topic / Russian Views On Poland and Vice Versa [382]

In an attempt to save the "Polish Aid to Ukraine" thread from contamination - and still smarting from the very judicious suspension I received yesterday - I want to try a new thread.

As nations with an almost one thousand year history of bilateral relations, tied by ancestral blood and language, but separated by religion - this thread deserves to exist.

I will begin with a poem by one of my favorite poets, Yesenin, titled "Poland". The poem was written in connection with the beginning of the occupation of Poland (the Kingdom of Poland, which was part of the Russian Empire since 1815) by German and Austro-Hungarian troops in the First World War. The periodical press of Russia of that time wrote a lot about the heroism of the Poles defending their homeland from the invaders. By the end of 1915, the entire territory of Poland was occupied.

Poem in Russian, and then a Google Translate (sorry, lazy):

<1915>

A bloody cloud hung over Poland,
And red drops burn the cities.
But a star shines in the glow of past centuries.
The Vistula is crying under the pink wave.
In the ring of times with one shade of meaning
All years fit the scales of war.
And to the winner for the banner of his labor
The enemy himself puts flowers on the cups of the yoke.
O Poland, a bright dream in the damp prison of Kosciuszki,
A slave in fragments of a halo.
I see your Mickiewicz loading guns.
You have torn open the network of captivity with a powerful hand.
Let the native edges of the edge burn,
But the ringing of victories is heard for the prayer of the church.
<1915>