Турбины "Ту" [Turbiny "Tu"] [English translation]

Flight lights are flashing on the wing.

Whole night in darkness these will swing:

Two mountaineering dirty sacks,

Five pretty models for the stack,

Two captains of the KGB

For their awards in Dushanbe.

One hundred souls, a cabin crew,

Are carried by turbines of Tu.1

Ice axes bang inside backpacks,

Five pretty models now will nap,

Both of the captains are awake:

They are on payroll, so no breaks.

Inside their cabin, far from sight,

Three flight attendants sip cognac.

The night is dark, but they cut through:

Turbines of Tu, turbines of Tu.

And no one waits them. Two old packs

Will spent the night in bivouac.

Five pretty models will get rest,

With hotel lodging they are blessed.

Meanwhile our captains grab a cab,

The race is on – get off their path!

And only I will wait for you,

In silence of turbines of Tu.

1. Tupolev Tu-104, a narrow-body turbojet-powered Soviet airliner.

• Artist:Yuri Vizbor