House of Cards

Construction begins!
Don't laugh, don't even breathe!
Doors from Twos, porches, Threes...
Stop! It fell--so build it again.
The doorman's cot goes in the corner--
He'll sleep on a Seven.

Great job, wonderful... Don't fall!
Jacks are in the first room--
My…and so well dressed!
Hats tilted upward and hats tilted down
Along the walls--the eaves
Are made from Fours and Fives.
Don't shake! I'm warning you!
Further along--behind that screen of Sixes--
There's a bathroom for the Queens.

Let the Kings sleep in the dining room.
There's no space anywhere else.
The Queen of Spades and Ace of Diamonds
Are drinking coffee on the veranda.
Children? They don't have any children,
Neither children, nor birds, nor cats...
These holes here are for windows
And that's a guest room.

Post and beam--It's a new home!
The house is almost done.
The chimneys just need to be taller.
Don't tremble, be careful, friend!
For God's sake, don't shake...
No, no, no! There's still more...
Oh no!
The sides begin to wobble,
They bend and stagger
Then tumble and spill onto the table cloth--
And there goes the house...

1921, a children's poem by Sasha Chernyi, translated from Russian by me.