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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


LENIN by VALERY YAKOVLEVICH BRYUSOV

First Line: WHO WAS HE? LEADER OF THE WORLD
Last Line: ARE A GUIDING LIGHT FOREVER LIT.
Subject(s): LENIN, VLADIMIR ILYICH (1870-1924); RUSSIA; SOVIET UNION; RUSSIANS;

Who was he? Leader of the world,
Guide of the peoples' sovereign will,
Who changed men's fates, merged streams that swirled
Their different ways in chaotic swill.

October started a new era,
It marked a boundary more profound
Than the Renaissance or Attilla
Or anything in History found.

The old world falters, frail and mortal,
A new world -- commonwealth for all --
Grows from the October tempest; Lenin
Towers at the new world's birth and old world's fall.

Earth, humble globe lost in the Cosmos
Among the planetary set,
That name shall cover you with glory
Such as you never witnessed yet.

He died; his life was but an instant
In endless Time, but what he did
Survives his death. His divinations
Are a guiding light forever lit.



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