Он играет на похоронах и танцах [On igraet na pokhoronakh i tancakh] [English translation]

He performs on funerals and dances,

He had to go back and forth.

He can’t stay in either of these places:

They wait for him. Back and forth.

A sound that his bow creates.

A hundred weddings, hundred wakes.

He performs on funerals and dances:

The only choices Life will make.

When trouble knock on your front door, don’t cry.

We won’t be there forevermore.

Whatever happens, don’t you ever cry,

Keep playing as you did before.

In the end, in a place that’s far from fitting,

The time will come, the bell will toll.

And I’ll recall all those who walked beside me,

All that I did, and what did not.

Yet nothing lasts forever in this world;

So, I will fall on our earth’s globe.

Just let no commissars in dusty helmets,

Just let him play for me alone.