There’re fires all around; the country is consumed The sparks are dancing faster and the flames are getting hotter But suddenly both Fate and Time just let their horses zoom They galloped then, as bullets sang, And as the world would go insane Enduring this flutter The bullets chasing us are blind, dumb, and brutal And while our horses dashed, they followed us in flight The horseshoes turned red-hot, detached and became futile To bring luck later to the ones who find them on-site The reins are unsteady - twisting ‘round And locks of hair are tangled up, and thoughts are intertwined But then the wind would get the hair unbound And straighten the confusion in the mind The fleeing from the fire, the panic, the cascade, But none of that had mattered cause good fortune had not parted And Time now galloped on our side; the riders drew their blades The poet rides, the horse in flight The fires ebbed, and then they died But the pursuit just started The world had never seen a movement so aligned The hooves would beat the earth distributing the blame The bullets, drunk with blood, that once were dumb and blind Have gained vision, smartened up, and seldom missed their aim And who will win - the tension is abiding And who is quicker - no one will settle for defeat The raging wind seeped through the skin - no hiding And chilled the bones past the meat Good luck waits up ahead and cures for the sick Time started taking shortcuts, that’s reason to be hoping! What’s promised for tomorrow will be bittersweet to pick An easy ride, the foes in sight The allies also in the light And Fate rides in the open The gullible grim reaper was taken for a jester He hesitated just, and missed his chance to strike The bullets fell behind, as we were moving faster A bloody bath that we could hope to pass up on this hike The wind no longer troubled any-body Both Time and Fate are injured, but who is keeping score The winds and steeds were carrying the bodies And souls of those slain in the war
© Evgeny Sakirski. Translation, 2003
© Evgeny Sakirski. Performance, ?