Беда [Beda] [English translation]

music and lyrics by Vladimir Vysotsky

You did carry your misfortune

On thin spring ice

Ice has cracked, broken was your soul

You came to (the) bottom like a stone

But misfortune though it's hard

Lingered over the sharp edges

And misfortune since that day

Looked for you worldwide

And were rumours and gossips that came with it

But that you're not really dead

Just one old dry willow knew

And some pairs of quails that lived where you was

Who of them could say to him

Who was master of your dreams

But somebody betrayed you, spilt the beans

And in an agony of passion

He went there where you was

And misfortune with rumours followed him

He overtook you, caught you up

Hugged you, took you on his arms

And misfortune grinned near him in his saddle

But he couldn't stay with you

'Cause he had just single day

And misfortune lingered for all the time