Три сестры [Tri sestry] [English translation]

Please draw down, I beg you, those solid blue curtains.

Sister nurse, no potions for me, no drugs.

Here they stand by my bed, my three ultimate debtors,

Very quiet: my Faith, and my Hope and my Love.

Time to pay back my life, so short, so reckless,

But all purses fall empty from my helpless hand.

Don’t be sad, don’t be woebegone, oh my dear Faith,

I am sure many others remain in your debt.

And I also will say, with my voice small and gentle,

Feeling guilty and kissing her comforting hands:

Don’t be sad, don’t be woebegone, oh my mother Hope,

I am certain you have other sons on this Earth.

I’ll extend to my Love my both palms that are empty,

I will hear her penitent voice in my heart:

“Don’t be sad, don’t be woebegone, I remember,

I have given away in your name all I’ve had.

But whoever have been, and how many, your lovers,

However the heavenly fires burnt you thin,

People’s gossip deposited thrice that amount,

All your debt has been paid, and by me you get clean.”

Clean, so clean, I am rocked by the tide of the sunrise

My bed linen’s white flag’s streaming down to the tiles…

My three sisters, three wives, my three merciful judges

Open credit for me for the very last time…

…My three judges, three wives, my three merciful sisters

Open credit for me for unlimited time.

• Artist:Bulat Okudzhava