Кони привередливые [Koni priveredlivye] [English translation]

O’er the rockface, o’er the precipice, along the edge, the margin

I lash steeds with my nagaika whip, I urge them further onward

Seems like short I’ve been of air, I gulp mist, I drink the headwind

Feeling fatally enraptured: I’m a goner, I’m a goner!

Slow it down, my good horses, slow it down a little!

Don’t you follow my tight lashing whip!

How come I end up with such horses – so ungovernable

I have not lived my due, I’ll not sing up my bit

I will water my steeds

End my rhyme and my rhythm

For a moment once more

I will stand on the brim!

I’ll be gone and like a snowflake I’ll be puffed away by snowstorms

In a sleigh and at a gallop I’ll be drawn on morning snow trails

Will you change your gait to walking from a gallop, my good horses

Let me linger for a moment on the way to my last haven!

Slow it down, my good horses, slow it down a little!

You will never obey lashing whips!

How come I end up with such horses – so ungovernable

I have not lived my due, I’ll not sing up my bit

I will water my steeds

End my rhyme and my rhythm

For a moment once more

I will stand on the brim!

We have made it - one is never a latecomer to see God’s place

So what are angels there singing in their angry shrieking voices?

May it be those bells of harness bursting into sobbing jangle?

Is it me who yells in sleigh begging the steeds to keep from dashing?

Slow it down, my good horses, slow it down a little!

I am begging you not to fly fast!

How come I end up with such horses – so ungovernable...

Since I’ve not lived my due, let me sing up my part!

I will water my steeds

End my rhyme and my rhythm

For a moment once more

I will stand on the brim!

• Artist:Vladimir Vysotsky