Кони привередливые [Koni priveredlivye] [English translation]

On a cliff, above precipice, along the very edge of it

I am whipping my fast horses with a lash, I drive them forward

I can feel the lack of air, I drink wind, I'm gulping haze now.

I am feeling fate elation, I am perishing, I’m falling.

Take your time, my faithful horses, don’t be so quick,

Don’t obey the commands of my lash!

But the horses I have got are too fastidious and swift

I had no time to live, I won’t finish my chant…

I will water the horses,

I will sing some more verses

For to have some more chance

And to stand on the chasm

I will perish and a storm will sweep away me like a feather,

In the morning they will drag me on a sledge through early snow.

Oh my horses, you should go for a leisurely light stepping,

For to slow fatal road to my last and gloomy home.

Take your time, my faithful horses, don’t be so quick,

Neither whips nor a lash are your chiefs!

But the horses I have got are too fastidious and swift

I had no time to live, and my song soon won’t ring…

I will water the horses,

I will sing some more verses

For to have some more chance

And to stand on the chasm.

Just in time we are to Heavens. Nobody’s late for there.

Why do the angels start to lament with so angry voices now?

Can it be the bell that sounds as if bursting into tears,

Either I myself am crying to the horses not to hurry.

Take your time, my faithful horses, don’t be so quick,

I beg you not to gallop away

But the horses I have got are too fastidious and swift

I had no time to live, let my song ring to end…

I will water the horses,

I will sing some more verses

For to have some more chance

And to stand on the chasm.

• Artist:Vladimir Vysotsky