In the sleep - yellow lights

[Ilya Shambat]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Abz0ISL_jt0

In the sleep – yellow lights,
And in sleep I’m ranting:
In the time, in the time,
Morning is the better.

But in morning not as it should,
There’s no such a merriment:
Either you smoke with no food,
Or drink from the hangover.

In taverns – the damask green
And the white napkins.
Heaven is for beggars and buffoons
I’m like a caged bird!

In the church twilight and stench,
Deacon smoking incense.
No! It’s not right in the church,
Not like it should be.

I’m – in hurry on the mountain,
That would come out nothing.
And on the mountain alder stands,
And under mountain cherry.

And if to twine with ivy hill,
This to me comfort,
Although something else still.
All’s not as it should be!

I’m along river, in the field.
Light – dark, there’s no God!
And the cornflowers in clean field,
The distant road.

Along the road – the dense wood,
With Baba-Yagas,
And in the end of that road –
Scaffold with the axes.

Somewhere the horses dance in tact,
Reluctantly and smoothly.
Along the road not as it must,
And in end – all the more.

And not church, and not the pub –
Nothing is holy.
No, fellows, all is not as must,
All’s not as it should be.

By Vladimir Vysotsky
Translated from Russian by Ilya Shambat