Led by the hand, told of the faithful
Bowed at the feet; flights on the flight
Handkerchiefed hearts1; and the life’s bane yet
Dropped in the throat; may be absolved
Hours wasted in search for breast sashes
The mouths are set; time forward goes
The rood’s out-front, flagged are the elbows2
Bayoneted flags; the yield trampled by goats3
Gray quietude; sleeping pills for use4
Tremor in veins; lightsome condition
The light barefoot fig’s at the nose
To run abreast on a short leash
The quenchless flame; daylight fluorescents5
The stairwell’s dark; do mind the step
The potion’s hard; the kin’s lamenting
Nooked6 is the table; the icon’s candled7
Led by the hand, flights on the flight
May be absolved…
1. "Handkerchiefed" here means "with handkerchiefs nearby (in chest pockets)"2. Yanka's "локти устали" ("the elbows are tired") has another variant in the book by Yakov Sokolov http://yanka.lenin.ru/knigi/ya_ha.pdf "локти у стали", ("elbows are near steel") but that is, probably, a typo.3. Here Yanka uses a piece of the idiom "пустить козла в огород" ("to let a goat into the kitchengarden")4. "Колёса" ("wheels") (slang) - any psychoactive pills, often pills of any type, including aspirin, are called so.5. "Лампы дневные" - here, fluorescent tubes of "daylight" color, widely used in hospitals, morgues, etc. in the USSR in 1980s.6. "Nooked" can mean here not only "having angles, corners", but also "hidden in a corner" too, Yanka uses only simple nouns in this string, that have a descriptive meaning.7. "Candled" will thus mean "illuminated by candlelight".