I’d never be fooled by mirage’s grand features
Or the promise of paradise - I wasn’t the one,
But the sea of dishonesty swallowed my teachers
And spat them back out by Magadan.

But looking down from my height on the rest,
I was also a fool, and no different in fact,
Not a splinter was left on me by Budapest,
And my heart, after Prague, was still beating, intact.

We made some noise in life and on the stage:
Young boys, we only bungled on our mission.
And soon, they’ll judge us and the tides will change.
Hey! He’s against us? Beat him to submission!

But we detected danger long before
The freezing chill would overtake us all
And clarity, with shamelessness of whores,
Appeared among us, bolting shut our souls.

No firing squads were threatening my peers,
Still, we lived scared, not daring to look up -
We’re also kids of Russia’s dreadful years,
Hard times poured vodka into us nonstop.