Сядем рядом [Syadem ryadom] [English translation]

Let's sit together, let's sit closer1,

And press white patches to a holey sack.

In a strict mode – quiter, quiter –

We'll pick all the strings, grain by grain.

Lingering hum, plucking…

With all the jabber I can't tell

Between Rus' and sadness.

They'll forget us, but not soon,

And when they do, I'll be back.

Time will come, I'll remind

How it all was sewn, and resew anew.

Only believe me, only sing to me,

Only sing to me, darling – I'll sing along.

The thread is like a strand of hair.

To live like a stalk of wheat.

The stalk will be threshed completely in a single chain strike.

Yes, I know it all. Give me a voice –

And I'll take any strike like your greatest gift.

The one who hews his own road –

Not a smith or a carpenter you are,

But a poet.

The one who loves, but untimely –

The one who believes2, but doesn't know this himself.

But I'm on a roll. The palms are squeezed,

The poor keep fussing, but can't keep the grains

In their fists.

I'll play the guitar, and the garmon,

And the log with a bough, and my own bones.

By malice, caress and sins

Stretch me, stretch, like the unruly furs!

I'm done for to the innards,3

What'd I do with innards, damn them, anyway…

But tomorrow – morning. Everything all over again…

To weave a touch-me-not thread on a sharp tambour…

So someone would feel better...

Were I allowed, I think I could explain it all

In simple words –

To the anguished, hopeless,

All the signs are covered up so easily,

Tears and onion.

While a stone's throw away -

You can stroke in the sky your re-born star.

The close one, the one that's higher

Than bell-tower's sonorous peal -

Which is where? All is dark.

Have a clear glance,

Closer, closer…

Look out of the window – there they're scattered, your grains.

Above windows, above roof,

Well, what are you waiting for? Go boldly, take more, and more!

What, too high? Closer, closer.

There, it gets warmer… Can you feel the heat?

December 1985

1. In official version it's "let's lie closer".2. Also can be understood as "confesses" or "hears confessions".3. "To the innards" is Russian idiom for "completely".

• Artist:Alexander Bashlachev