On the border with Turkey or Pakistan, There’s a neutral zone. On the right by the bushes - Our border guards and our captain. On the left side-their post, And in no-man’s land there are Of extraordinary beauty. The captain’s lady decided to move in with him, She arrives and says: Darling! This and that... You’ve at least got to give your bride a bouquet - A wedding without flowers is just a drinking party. And in no-man’s land there are Flowers of extraordinary beauty. While, just as if on orders, their captain’s girl decides To come and live with him-taken by a whim! And also: Darling! she says-in Turkish - There’ll be a wedding, she says, a wedding and that’s that! And in no-man’s land there are Flowers of extraordinary beauty. Our border guards, brave lads - Three volunteered to go with the captain. How were they to know that the Asians had decided That very same night to go after flowers, too. And in no-man’s land there are Flowers of extraordinary beauty. Our captain’s dead drunk from the smell of flowers, And their captain, he’s flat out drunk, too. He’s sprawled in the flowers, grunting in Turkish, And, crying in Russian "motherf", - our captain collapses. And in no-man’s land there are Flowers of extraordinary beauty. The captain’s asleep and he’s dreaming That they opened the border like the Kremlin gates... He didn’t need a foreign border worth a damn. He felt like taking a swing around no-man’s-land. And why not? The earth belongs to everyone! It’s actually neutral!.. And in no-man’s land there are Flowers of extraordinary beauty.
© H. William Tjalsma. Translation, 1982