Abuses and awards - Andrei Voznesensky

A poet can't be in disfavour,
he needs no awards, no fame.
A star has no setting whatever,
no black nor a golden frame.

A star can't be killed with a stone, or
award, or that kind of stuff.
He'll bear the blow of a fawner
lamenting he's not big enough.

What matters is music and fervour,
not fame, nor abuse, anyway.
World powers are out of favour
when poets turn them away.

Translation by Alec Vagapov

Andrei Andreyevich Voznesensky, em russo Андре́й Андре́евич Вознесе́нский  (nasceu em Moscovo na então União Soviética a 12 de maio de 1933 e faleceu em Moscovo, Rússia, a 1 de junho de 2010)