On the border with Turkey or with Pakistan There is a neutral zone, where the bushes grow - Our frontier men with our brave captain, On the left side - all the foreign posts. And the flowers on the neutral zone Are of unusual beauty. Captain’s bride decided to come for a visit, Came here and says: "Sweetheart, how are you?" Captain should give his bride a bouquet of flowers, "There’s no wedding without flowers, drinking and that’s all." And the flowers on the neutral zone Are of unusual beauty. Meanwhile in the foreign camp, their captain’s bride Also came for a visit and she said: "Hello, darling, how are you? (Only in Turkish), There will be a great wedding for the two of us." And the flowers on the neutral zone Are of unusual beauty. Our frontier men, all courageous fellows - Three volunteered to go with captain to the zone, But they didn’t know that the Turks with their captain Decided to get the flowers that night too. Because the flowers on the neutral zone Are of unusual beauty. Our captain soon got drunk from the smell of flowers, But their captain, also drunk as hell. And he fell into the flowers, groaning in Turkish, And ours cursed in Russian, fell not far from him. And the flowers on the neutral zone Are of unusual beauty. Our captain sleeps and dreams That the frontier was opened, like the gates in Kremlin1. He didn’t give a damn for a foreign border. He wanted to stroll through nobody’s land. Why can’t I go? The land belongs to no one! This one is a neutral zone. And yet the flowers on the neutral zone Are of unusual beauty.
1 before 1958, Kremlin was closed to visitors, and only authorized individuals and government officials were allowed to pass through.
 
© Nathan Mer. Translation, 1991