Poems Tributes | To Yevgeny Yevtushenko

Confession

"I harbor belief full of covert alerts
In tiny, little ways
I helped my country – Russia." Y.Y.

To Yevgeny Yevtushenko

By Tatiana Pahlen

Your soul embarked to another sphere.
with years I've grasped I was unfair
Calling you a political whore –
Knowing you helped to expel Joseph Brodsky
From Russia – his native home.

I was an adolescent, writing a poem
And dared to read it to your face,
Describing you in harsh words,
The story I gathered from my friends
was that you were servant of the KGB and CIA!

Your reaction was distinctly defensive.
You summarized all good and bad,
Life of a double agent recruiter
It sounded like Judgment Day,
And I appeared as your prosecutor.

We met again in the United States,
You always felt uneasy with me
I was no longer your love interest.

Last year I watched your heartfelt confession
Where you came clean, a reformed man,
I learned your leg was amputated;
Due to a raging diabetes
While you begged forgiveness from Joseph.

Now you are gone and I live with my score,
For not explaining to you why I was cruel
I was under the influence of my circle,
I had many times to explain but I didn’t,
Being involved, but not any more!