So many times I tried to fly Moscow-Odessa, Again the plane is not allowed to leave. But here the stewardess in blue passed by me, Reliable like our entire air force. Above Murmansk there are no grey clouds, And now if you want, fly to Ashkabad. Kiev is open, so is Kharkov, Kishinev, And also Lvov, but I don’t need to go there. They said to me: "Don’t hope today, You shouldn’t depend on our blue sky." And again the flight to Odessa is delayed - Right now the zone is covered with ice. And the icicles in Leningrad are melting, And why shouldn’t I fly to Leningrad? It’s very warm and bright in Tbilisi, A fine place, but I don’t need to go there. I hear, from Rostov they are flying to Odessa. Yet it’s me who needs Odessa day and night. Yes, I have to go where I’m not allowed to go, And that’s why the flight is being postponed. I need a place where there is snow and fog, Where tomorrow they are expecting a blizzard, But somewhere it must be clear and nice, Perfect, but I don’t need to go there. I can’t leave this place, they won’t accept me there, Unjustly, and I feel so depressed. The pretty stewardess welcomes us to the landing, She’s reliable like the entire air force. They opened the most distant land, Which can’t really lure anybody. They opened the closed part Vladivostok, Paris is open, but I don’t need to go there.                 I’m right, just cry or laugh, again the flight is postponed, And the stewardess is leading us to the past. She’s slim like the plane TU, that miss Odessa, Reliable like the entire air force. Again the flight is postponed until eight, And the citizens are falling asleep humbly. Damn it! I am sick and tired of this nonsense, And I’m flying where I’ll be accepted.
© Nathan Mer. Translation, 1991