Bulat Okudjava

Oh, cuirassier, your age isn’t long one
And that is why it’s so sweet.
The trumpet sings, curtains are opened,
a sables’ ring from somewhere fleets.
Still the strings’ voice is softly handled,
but our commander is on horse…
Do not say to the youthful maiden
about endless love on earth!

Champagne streams like a fable river,
and lightly dims your own head,
and all, you want, is as if near,
and all’s as if without end.
But though world is with sugar laden,
A trouble touch’s a brow yours…
Do not say to the youthful maiden
about endless love on earth! 

In vain, the funs, serene and painless,
you try to stretch on with a laugh.
You never will become the famous,
until the blood is poured enough…
For us, the future has, already, 
the wooden or cast iron cross…
Do not say to the youthful maiden
about endless love on earth!


Translated by Yevgeny Bonver, September, 2002