Берегись [Beregis'] [English translation]

I shall have to crawl away

From declaration of war to the strings left, only four,

From a quite bigoted spring to the wall-rounded ring,

From a bit burnt evening meal beyond the four-faced ill,

From generations of bales to the four black dreadful tales1.

To don an old uniform that somebody's overworn.

I shall have to do without

Without the blue dusky fowl; the lashes2 being piebald,

And reconstruct by the noon all the lot yesterday ruined;

To quickly leave a slop coach continuing the approach

On a self-made tiny broom through a lukewarm ash of doom;

To spread the hands when asleep in order not to get slipped.

I shall eke3 have to exchange

The pretty old boring rite for a death-dealing missile,

The creaky chair by the table for screams of children away,

The crown of disordered roses for a depressive psychosis,

The psychodelical Eden for the thrice-bolted "forbidden".

They shout "Hey, you! Watch out!"

They shout "Hey, you! Watch out!"

1. meaning tallies, numbers2. meaning eyelashes3. "eke" is a nice old word meaning "routine needs", "economy". It's sometimes used as a verb in the fixed expression "to eke out" meaning "to make supplies by practicing strict economy". And here it's used as an adverb meaning "also" meaning that "also" includes a huge effort.

Without it the verse should sound probably as the following:

I must surely exchange...

or

I am doomed to interchange

or somewhat alike.

• Artist:Yanka Dyagileva
• Album:Продано!(1989)