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".