TWO YELTSINS
ABC WEDNESDAY
Letter 'Y'
YELTSIN
Remember Boris Yeltsin? Russian boss?
Part hero, part buffoon as I recall.
Born at Yekaterinberg (another 'Y'),
And destined first to rise and then to fall.
When he was baptised, so the history goes,
The priest was very, very, very drunk.
He dropped poor Boris right into the font,
Giving him a much more-than-usual dunk!
Throughout the winters in Siberia,
He was lucky if he even had a coat!
The children would be huddled round, not flames,
But the body of the family pet goat!
As a rebellious youngster he once stole
A hand-grenade from a nearby army store!
As he held it, it exploded in his hand
And his thumb and a single finger were no more!
He worked as a construction-worker first;
He had the strength, he also had the build.
But he was ambitious for much greater things,
Being determined, gruff and quite strong-willed.
Communism was his chosen creed,
He rose to status working in the Party.
He was part politicians' man,
And partly boozer, always rough and hearty.
In time he worked his way to power,
And became the chosen ruler of his land,
Though his mix of politician and buffoon
Was something very hard to understand.
He's remembered for the good and for the bad,
But his bravery was seen by everyone
When, in the thick of riots he spoke up,
Balanced on a tank and near a gun.
Towards the end he was drinking to excess
And he sang and danced his way upon life's stage;
One minute telling very silly jokes;
The next exploding in a mighty rage.
*
Boris Yeltsin, let me tell you, was my twin!
Though I a daughter, he Old Russia's son.
For both of us were born on the same day,
On the 1st of February 1931!
Aquarius was ruling at the time;
It should have influenced all our deeds and words!
I have a sneaky feeling that that proves
That Astrology is really for the birds!
9 comments:
He was a 'real' person, in many ways. Wasn't too controllable. Nice lesson, here.
What a nice tribute to Boris, no matter what he was, he made it to the top and got to drink all the vodka. This leads me to wonder, if you had drunk that much vodka, could you have become Prime Minister of Aus? Maybe it should have been beer in our case which would have proved astrology to be right after all....ahh, lost opportunities and at least a Phd theses on alcohol lifting you to the top job!
A very interesting and kind of sad person. Very original post for the letter Y. I think you win the prize....
And I agree that astrology is really for the birds.
Lots of interesting things about Boris, - was it he who slammed his shoe upon the table???? The world is full of such interesting people.
This is amazing as usual! How do you do it? This is a truly fascinating jam packed biography/poem. Bravo!
Interesting that you both born on the same day. I remember the day when as Moscow Mayer and finally took control of Russia and sealed the end of Russia Republic as we use to know. Nice choice of music too "Yesterday".
I love getting my history lessons from you.
Wonderful Y!
Sherry
Wow, quite a few facts about Boris that I didn't know! Interesting post!
And you were his twin! LOL!
I would like to honestly believe that this poem was not written under the influence of Vodka..!!!!
Post a Comment