White silence
MP3
Russian title: Beloe bezmolvie
As the years and centuries and epochs go by
All things strive towards warmth from the blizard and frost
Why do these birds toward northern lands fly
If for birds to the south the earth must be crossed
Fame and grandeur to them is not wanted
Underneath all that ice leaves from site
And the'll find a birds paradise granted
As reward for their daring flight
For what could we not live, what could we not dream?
What expelled us to trek on high waves?
We've not seen seen the light's brilliant beam
Seldom brilliance with value behaves
Total quiet - just segulls like lightning
Feed them emptiness from our empty hands
And rewarding us for our silence
Will be the sound of our song when we land.
For so long we have dreamt only white
Other shades of snow do not exist
We've been blinded by this brilliant light
But the black line of earth can be seen through the mist
Our throats will let go of silence
Our fear like shadow melts away
And rewarding us for our nights of violence
Will be eternal polar day.
North, will, hope, a land without border
Snow without dirt like a life without lies
Ravens will not gouge our eyes to bring order
Because in these parts no raven flies
Those who did not believe in dark prophecies
Never lay in the snow to rest
As reward for their lonely policies
They'll be met by a true friend at last.
What the hell, you viper...
MP3
Russian title: CHto zhe ty, zaraza...
Tell me, why you, viper, have your eye-brows pencilled,
And what the hell you've put on your blue beret for.
You are going out for a dance, I sense it,
You have got two tickets to the club, I know.
You should have no doubt that I dote upon you,
I can do the stealing for you night and day,
But you are unfaithful, and I want to warn you,
I will put you down if you go astray.
I have no objections if it's Nick or Slavka,
I don't mind you going out with my friends,
But if it is Victor from Pereyaslavka
I shall crush you, stinker, tear you to threads!
Listen to me, hussy, I'll be frank and solid:
You had better get that beret off your head;
If you don't, I'll have you buried in my soul, and
You will not be found,- coated with cement.
When you come back, maybe, later in the summer,
I'll have found a woman,- a real bit of jam,
Then you'll burst with envy, like a dirty bummer,
Saying: "Please forgive me", but I won't give a damn.
Song of an Antisemite
MP3
Russian title: Antisemity
Just being a hoodlum appears so trite
I ought to convert to an anti-Semite
This cause might not yet have the law on its side
But millions of zealots support it worldwide
One would get a thrashing if I so decide
But I need to know who is a Semite
What if they are held in the highest regard
What if for the trouble I get myself barred
But my drunkard pal with a wider worldview
Said that a Semite is just a plain Jew
Well, I am in luck, as it would appear
I am reassured there is nothing to fear
I worked up resolve, cause Albert Einstein
Was once a respected icon of mine
The people, forgive me, but I have to ask
Should Abraham Lincoln be also unmasked?
Among them, are many who suffered from Stalin
And highly respected by me Charlie Chaplin
My dear friend Rubin and victims of Nazism
And even the founding father of Marxism
But my drunkard buddy said after a job
The blood of the infants they drink, every drop
And I over drinks in a bar overheard
That they long ago crucified our Lord
Without more blood they simply can't do
They tortured an elephant right in a zoo
Against our people committed high treason
And stole all the crops of the previous season
Along major highways they grabbed all the lots
Built luxury dachas and live there like gods
I'll maim and I'll burn, just to make them pay dues
To save our country, I club dirty Jews
Mountain Lyrics
Russian title: Gornaia liricheskaia
Well, now, my hands don't shake at all
So I'll move on!
Into the precipice for all
My fears are gone!
I have no reason for a halt
Nor for a break,
There are no heights in the whole world
I cannot take!
Of all untrodden paths and roads
One road is mine,
Of all unconquered lines and fords
I'll take one line!
The names of those who rest in peace
Are in the snow.
Of all untrodden roads one is
For me, I know!
The bright blue radiance of ice
Lights up the cracks;
And on the granite, in disguise,
Are someone's tracks.
I have my dream and let it flow
Around the world,
And I believe in pure snow
And pure word!
Time flies. There's something I will not
Forget about:
It's here that confidence I got
And killed my doubt!
The water whispered on that day:
"Good luck! No woes!"
The day... What was it? Wednesday, eh?
Oh yes, it was!
The silent ones are loved, but not as often
MP3
Russian title: Krasivykh lyubyat chasche i prilezhnej...
The pretty ones are dearly loved and softly
The funny ones are loved but for long
The silent ones are loved, but not as often
But if they're loved,- then oh how strong!
Do not yell loving words, do not yell
Hold them in until time is better
Let the steamboats bugle like hell
But you - do not tell, do not tell
If you hurry - you'll lose her forever.
She often reads about love and woe
Allow her to compare,- just try to,
Because the darker tulips grow
To make the whiter ones seem brighter.
Do not yell loving words, do not yell
Hold them in until time is better
Let the poets and rooks sing like hell
But you - do not tell, do not tell
If you hurry - you'll lose her forever.
The words are flowing... So what then?
You're late but there's no regret!
Say the words,- you know that you can
If they simply cannot not be said!
Do not yell loving words, do not yell
Hold them in until time is better
Let the steamboats bugle like hell
Do not scream, do not yell, do not tell
If you hurry - you'll lose her forever.
Lyrics
Russian title: Liricheskaia
Here old redwood branches tremble in the high winds,
Here birds' chirping sounds so anxious.
You live in the wilderness spelled by a whim
From which an escape would be hopeless...
Let the bird cherry tree, like old sheets, wither down,
Let the lilac's leaves fall off like raindrops.
I will take you away from your hide-away town
To the palace with the music of reed pipes!
Your land, by the sorcerer's hidden away,
From anyone's glancing, for ages.
You fancy your forest the best place to stay -
Enchanted, inspiring, gorgeous.
Let the moon be at odds with the overcast sky,
Let the leaves have no dew at this hour.
All the same, from this wood, I will take you away
To an oceanfront fairytale tower.
Which day of the week and which glorious hour
Will you come to me from your hiding?
Then I'll carry you far away in my arms
To a place, where no one will find you.
I'll abduct you, if you would prefer it this way,
Didn't I squander my life, vain and reckless?
Please consent to the happiness under the sky,
Should there be no tower or palace.
Masks
Russian title: Maski
I laugh, but with wild laughter nearer tears.
As if seen in distorting mirrors, all
Have crooked noses and grin from ear to ear
Like grotesques at a Venetian carnival
What shall I do? Shall I take flight, I ask,
Or shall I stay and frolic with these creatures?
Can I not hope, behind an animal mask,
To find a face endowed with human features?
For each of them is wearing mask and wig,
Some from literature, some from old romances.
The one beside me sports a harlequin's rig,
The next a hangman's and a third a dunce's.
With loud guffaws I join the merry crowd,
But still I feel uneasy, though I laugh.
Supposing one - a hangman - grows too fond
Of his grim mask and will not take it off?
What if a harlequin should learn to love
His mournful face, and so be sad forever?
Or if a fool should like his mask enough
To forget his wits and lose them altogether?
The circle closes in and rings me round.
They seize me, forcing me to take my place
And join the dance. My features they confound
And see a mask where is but my face.
Confetti fills the hall and fireworks flare!
The masks scowl hatefully and look askance:
I'm out of step, they cry, and take no care -
I tread upon the others in the dance.
The spiteful masks pour scorn on me, and rail;
The jolly ones are starting to be irked.
Hidden behind them, as if behind a wall,
Furtively watching, human faces lurk.
I run after my muses and give chase,
Hard on their heels, but there's not one I'll ask
To throw off her disguise and show her face -
For might she not reveal half-face, half-mask?
And yet, I've plumbed their secret. If correct -
And I've no serious grounds for doubting it -
I know the indifferent mask is to protect
The real face from blows and gobs of spit.
But how can I spot goodness? Recognize
The rogues and tell them from the honest ones?
Each dons his mask and puts on his disguise
So as not to dash his face against the stones.
I have two selves in me
Russian title: I vkusy, i zaprosy moi stranny...
I am an exotic man, to put it mildly,
My tastes and my demands are rather strange,
I can, for instance, nibble glasses madly,
And read the works of Schiller for a change.
I have two "Selves" in me, two poles of planet,
Two absolutely different men, two foes,
When one is eager to attend a ballet
The other straight off to the races goes.
I don't take liberties, when I turn out
To be myself, going the whole hog,
My other "Self" will frequently break out
Appearing as a rascal and a rogue.
And I oppress the scoundrel's intrusion,
My life! I've never known such distress...
Perchance (I am so scared of confusion),
I'm not that other "Self" whom I oppress.
When in my soul I open up the facets
In spots where sincerity should be
I pay the waitresses, on trust, in assets,
And women give me their love for free.
But suddenly all my ideals go to grass, as
I'm impatient, angry, rude and such a bore!
I sit like mad, devouring the glasses,
And throwing Schiller down on the floor.
The hearing is on. I stand and speak austerely,
Appealing to the jury, showing tact:
"It wasn't me who'd smashed the window, really,
It was my other wicked "Self", in fact.
Do not be strict to me. You'd better
Give me a chance, but not a prison term.
I'll visit court-rooms just as a spectator
and drop in on the judges as a chum.
I won't smash windows any more, distinctly,
Nor fight in public - write it in your scroll !
I'll bring the halves of my split, sickly,
Disintegrated soul into a single whole.
I'll root it out, bury it and quench it;
I want to clear and reveal my soul.
My other "Self" is alien to my nature,
No, it is not my other "Self", at all.
My Hamlet
MP3
Russian title: Moj Gamlet
Just briefly, I'll explain myself in verse,
To tell you everything - I do not have the might.
I was conceived, the proper way, in curse,-
In sweat and tenseness of the wedding night.
I knew, when separating from the earth -
The higher, the more harsh we got.
I walked towards the throne that I deserved
And acted like an heir in line of blood.
I knew that everything would be just as I ruled.
And I was never at a loss and never down.
My mates of sword and those I knew from school
Were loyal, like their fathers to the crown.
I never gave my speech a bit of thought.
Into the wind, I threw my words with pleasance -
Like to a leader, trust to me was brought
By noble and high-ranking adolescents.
We made the guards feel restless in the night,
From us, like from a pox, the time grew worse.
I slept on leather; ate right off the knife -
With stirrups disciplined my wicked horse.
"Long live the King!" - I had foreseen this cry,
The destiny has branded me at birth.
Around chased harnesses, I would get high,
I'd disregard abuse of books and words.
I'd smile with my lips while being pestered.
My mystic stare, which used to burn in fury,
I've learned to hide, raised by a happy jester.
And now the jester's dead: "Amen!" Poor Yurik.
And yet I disapproved of any sharing -
Of gains, rewards and privileges one has.
Then, suddenly for life I've started caring
And rode around the newly sprouted grass,
I lost the thrill for hunting - lost its aim,
I started to despise greyhounds and beagles.
I sped my horse away from wounded game,
And whipped the huntsmen and the beaters
I watched our games with every single night
Turn more and more into disgrace of time.
And by the flowing rivers, I would hide
And wash myself from staining filth and slime.
I started to perceive, while growing duller,
I even missed my household's affair.
Towards the people of this era I grew colder,
I hid myself in books and lost all care.
My brain, for wisdom greedy like a spider,
Grasped everything: the immobility and motion.
But what is wit when one cannot apply it?
When all around there's an opposing notion?
With friends I tore the tread and I was free -
The thread of Ariadne was but a scheme.
I pondered on the words "to be or not to be,"
A problem with no answer as it seemed.
The sea of grief was splashing in diffusion.
We stood against it; we were sieving grain,
And filtering the blurry resolution
To a dilemma, which appeared inane.
I heard my father's call when clamor stopped,
Walked forth,- while lurking doubts loomed.
The weight of heavy thoughts would pull me up
And wings of flesh would drag me to my tomb.
Into a weak alloy, I've melted with each day,
And barely cool, it started to diffuse.
Like others, I've spilled blood and just like they
I was incapable my vengeance to refuse.
The rising before death - was my collapse!
Ophilia! My dear, I won't decay...
With killing, I have made myself, perhaps,
An equal to the one with whom I lay.
I'm Hamlet, I despised injustice and abuse!
I did not give a damn about the crown!
But in their eyes, I hungered fame and I'm accused
Of sending rivals to the throne into the ground.
The striking splash appears as an illusion
And death through birth emerges from a side.
And we're still asking the deceitful solution
Not finding the question to abide.
The honor of the chess crown. Part I: Training
I was yelling: "You're insane! What happened?
You have lost our prominence for chess!"
They responded from the sports department:
"You can help to lead us from this mess!
But remember, your opponent's clever -
Sleeps next to the board and has the might,
He plays neatly, never makes an error..."
That's all right! I surely won't surrender,-
In reserve, I have a sturdy knight!
Oh, my muscles, strong and grand,
Rapid fingers, brutal looks!-
Carved and painted by hand
Wooden castles, wooden rooks!
My friend, the soccer player, told me:
"He's not used to playing such opponents.
For the rear and center do not worry,
But, attack him straight along the corners!"
Started running, confidence obtaining
Lost some weight and never slept this fine!
Hockey practices became sustaining...
I must say that after all this training -
I should crush my rival in no time!
Oh, my palms - so full of might,
Lower back so tough and brawny!
Oh, my strong and forceful knights,
Oh, my bishops bring me glory!
"Stand up straight and don't be nervous,-
My friend, the boxer told me that,-
And don't close in, go for the corpus
Your advantage is the jab."
Any doubt of losing now is gone!-
The defeat is hanging on his tail.
I played Al ten times, for fun,
In dominoes, in pool and twenty one,-
Al exclaimed, "He'll never fail!"
Oh, my muscles shaped so fine!
Strong and build on all the sides!
I'll crush those figures in no time -
Lightweight bishops, feeble knights!
In the bar, closed for the night,
The chef convinced me: "I just know it,
With that awesome appetite
You'll eat his pieces in one moment!
Rest is most important - that is true!
Stuff your bag with food or else you'll lose!
Make sure that you bring some pie... for two,
Your opponent is as talented as you,
But when it comes to food, he won't refuse!"
Oh, we're strong and won't go down
And the crown we will win!
Like a pawn, I lay me down -
Wake up feeling like a queen!
