Those who once left for the West
for stability
for a normal life for their children
to get away from this trash
this Soviet mindset—
are returning today to Russia,
where the local diumvirate has created a more or less
decent environment for the middle class
and reasonable conditions for business.
Not, of course, like in the good old days,
the 1990s,
but still better than now
in the barbaric socialist West
where the self-proclaimed people have gone into the streets,
the anarchists and the immigrants,
and hung huge banners
from the buildings:
“Capitalism is outlawed!”
—Translated by Keith Gessen