Лесосплав [Lesosplav] [English translation]

1

This stormy land is broken into patches of fallen trees

By northern winds. It's strongly guarded 2 A fire has weakened,

We won't be able to preserve it. Wolves are howling in a pit 3 Those who fell are not getting up.

Snow has composed a song for us about the tree felling.

The morning is slate-gray, the logs are slippery, we are working in ice-cold water,

It's not a good timing to admire a swan 4 My tobacco is damp.

The fuse is smoldering, steam is rising from our quilted jackets to the sky,

Those who are left here 5

Won't fall back into the line 6.

They won't fall back into the line.

There's coldness of bayonets and a ladle of gruel here,

A cry of a stork and squeaking of a cart like a sound of nail on glass.

We are dreaming of a piece of dry rye bread. When we get a break our minds wonder,

It's tempting to go to sleep in pine branches, it's a soft bed for us,

We'll catch up on sleep there.

I'll lie down into my past, into a cloudberry bush, into the days long gone,

In a squished mushroom, it's a red boletus 7

I'll remember the things that passed, a leaf stuck together,

I'll remember the old time, a hot morning, the blue sky,

The blue sky.

This stormy land is broken into fallen trees

By northern winds. It's strongly guarded. A fire has disappeared,

My cheek is shaking, the skitter 8 is clanking.

Brother, pull hard! Brother, come clean and tell me, how did you get being here?

The river has flooded, and spilled into our empty glass, angry.

We don't care about the freedom now, let us get back to the barrack,

And take the boots off like a preacher bestowing the holy truth,

Let us get into dry clothes, and we will dream of a forest,

Of the even forest… Even forest…

Even forest… Even forest… Even… 9

1. The described tree felling is done by prisoners in a prison camp in taiga2. By prison guards/soldiers.3. They are catching wolves by digging a pit in the ground and putting some meet there. A wolf falls there, and it isn't dangerous any more.4. In the water.5. Some prisoners are too weak to get up and work, so they are left to die in the forest.6. of prisoners7. a type of mushroom8. a tractor that helps to move logs 9. An "even" forest is a forest that grows on flat ground, not on hills etc. Such trees are is easy to fell, which is why the prisoners in the song dream about it; like, it's a happy dream for them.

• Artist:Alexander Rozenbaum