Не позволяй душе лениться! [ Ne pozvolyay dushe lenit'sya!] [English translation]

Don't let your soul get lazy!

so that all it does is beat a dead horse. 1

Your soul needs to be working all the time,

day and night, night and day.

Don't let it wander from house to house

drag it of the stage

from barren lands, from upon the wind,

out of a snowdrift, and over life's bumps!

Don't let it stay sleeping in bed.

By morning's first light,

work it hard to exhaustion 2

and never let go of its reins.

If you let your soul do what it wants

letting it do nothing

or it will tear off your last shirt

without mercy. 3

Grab it by its shoulders.

Teach and reprimand it before it's too late 4

So that it will live with you like like it's human

knowing how to learn again.

A soul is your slave and your queen

It's your worker and daughter

It must be forced to work

day and night, and night and day!

1. lit: "trying to grind water with in a stone bowl" {idiomatic: "doing worthless things"} 2. idiom that's hard to translate directly 3. these two lines are reversed in Russian as lit: "She, your last shirt, from you without mercy will tear off." 4. lit: "before the dark"