Про дурачка [Pro Durachka] [English translation]

A fool is wandering

Through the woods

Looking is the fool

For an even greater foo[*]

Death is walking down the street[**]

With pancakes on her dish

[The one] who gets one is to have his lot come true

She pats his shoulder

Kisses him hard

His kopeks fall and roll from his bosom right away

A fool is wandering

Through the woods

Looking is the fool

For an even greater fool

Cog-wheels started spinning inside my head

My wet head in the armor-piercing rain

Quicksilver started boiling, the fist was raised

But putting a cross on one's chest means putting coins onto his eyes[***]

A fool is wandering

Through the woods

Looking is the fool

For an even greater fool

My dead mama came to me yesterday

Shook her fists at me, called me a fool

An early morning gnat landed into my fire

And chocked on the blood from my temple

A fool is wandering

Through the world

Looking is the fool

For an even greater fool

I've bought a bunch of balloons today

I'll fly with them over the wonderful land

I'll swallow poplar fluff, dive into the ground

And answer any questions: "Always alive!"[****]

A fool is wandering

Through the skies

Looking is the fool

For an even greater fool

The sun was shining all day and all night long

There are no atheists in foxholes

The blind one will come first, the worthless one will win

You couldn't even dream of that

A fool is wandering

Through the woods

Looking is the fool

For an even greater fool

[*]The refrain was inspired by an old Slavic death spell: "A deadman is wandering through the woods, looking for someone more dead than him".

[**] In Russian, the word "death" is of feminine gender.

[***]A reference to the old custom of placing coins on the eyes of the dead.

[****]This may be a paraphrase of the well-known quote from a poem by Soviet poet Lev Oshanin: "Lenin is always with you/Lenin is always alive".