I’ll answer all your questions through and through, You are so curious, - I’ll give you satisfaction. I’m married, and my wife is French, it’s true, By origin, however, she is Russian. Do I have lovers now? Oh no! Shall I have any? I have no intention. I gave up drinking two or so years ago. Will I start drinking? It’s an open question. I do not live near the "Sokol" station And haven’t penetrated Paris yet... Come on, don’t try to make insinuations. Don’t be allusive, ask me straight! I’ll answer all your questions, and I’ll be Quite frank, as if I were to make confession. I’ve made your mouths water as I see, And I expect now a confusing question. "You’ve not been faithful to your wife, have you?" - Embarrassingly asked me a reporter, As if he’d been behind the curtain, too, Or lain under the bed with a recorder. I do not live near the "Sokol" station And haven’t penetrated Paris yet... Come on, don’t try to make insinuations. Don’t be allusive, ask me straight! Now I’m coming to the most important thing: A modest man, who tried to keep his balance, Inquired: "What did you actually mean By saying what you said in songs and ballads?" The answer was: "I’m not an Aesop nor Do I have anything up my sleeve I meant what I had written, - nothing more. Look at my sleeve. You see? I don’t deceive". I do not live near the "Sokol" station And haven’t penetrated Paris yet... Come on, don’t try to make insinuations. Don’t be allusive, ask me straight!
© Alec Vagapov. Translation, 1999