The Untied Shoelaces - Yevgeny Yevtushenko

Like a ghost in a crowd

I don't leave any traces.

I am snagged in the web

of untied shoelaces...

Each one of the shoelaces

it's owner chases...

You,

guys with the untied shoelaces

aren't you bored with such stupid races?

I don't think

you are able to fly over the clouds.

With your laces

you're tied up with the faceless crowds.

You will be tripped

by your laces

like a baby, down.

You will be swaddled in military uniform

or professorial gown.

You'll be lullabied by the customers

of McDonalds, bars, launderettes

like obedient marionettes.

You are proud to boast

of your fragile freedom

Are you proudly free not to read?

So many great books,

and no time to read 'em?

You want to be rich and famous?

So be prepared and plan it.

But you drag your shoelaces

over our planet

incredibly lazy

like overcooked spaghetti...

I don't think you are lucky like Bill Gates or Paul Getty.

So many bloodied knots

whether it is our fate

To untie or to cut them

is equally great!

But you are afraid

to untie anything beside your shoes

such cowardice is a self-abuse.

Do not sneak away,

generation of sneakers! I suspect

It would be poetically incorrect.

Where are your songs of protest

you guys with untied shoelaces

but with fatally tied-up hands?

Guys, you walk on the streets

over lost human faces

suffocated by your own laces...

---

Yevgeny Yevtushenko (1932 - 2017) Russia

Translated by the author

Source: Poetry Bay Summer 2000