Кони привередливые [Koni priveredlivye] [English translation]

O'er a sheer drop, up against the void, along the very border,

I am lashing wayward horses with a horsewhip, urging on them:

Getting somehow out of air, gulping wind and gobbling fog, I’m

Sensing in a fatal rapture: I'm a goner, I'm a goner!

Do slow down a little, horses! Do slow down just a bit!

Don't obey a taut whip! Beg you, don't!

Yet that the horses should have fallen so unruly to me -

Short of time to live up, coming short with the song...

I will water my steeds,

I will finish the song,

I will stand just a bit

At the back of beyond...

Should I die, a gale will sweep me off the hand flat like a feather,

And the sleigh will take me, racing by the snowfield at the daybreak.

Don’t you tear along, my horses, change to an unhurried canter!

Just a little but prolong the journey to the final haven!

Do slow down a little, horses! Do slow down just a bit!

Heed you neither a whip, nor a thong.

Yet that the horses should have fallen so unruly to me,

Short of time to live up, coming short with the song...

I will water my steeds,

I will finish the song,

I will stand just a bit

At the back of beyond...

We're on time: you’re never late to pay a visit to the Savior;

Then why are angels chanting up there with dispraising, angry yelling?

If it is a harness bell that’s choking in a bitter wailing?

If it’s I who’s urging horses so they quit this headlong sleighing?

Do slow down a little, horses! Do slow down just a bit!

I beseech you to not fly headlong!

Yet that the horses should have fallen so unruly to me,

Once there's no time to live, at least to finish the song...

I will water my steeds,

I will finish the song,

I will stand just a bit

At the back of beyond...

• Artist:Vladimir Vysotsky