Speaking In Tongues

Scribbling In Voices

ALEXANDER GALICH

WHEN I SHALL RETURN

Translated by Dmitry Kovalenin




When I shall return

When I shall come running

not leaving a trace in the snow a-melting

Retracing my steps

hardly seen, to some warm place and shelter

And, starting with joy

at your sweet birdish call shall I turn

When I shall return


Hey listen

Please listen, don't laugh - when I really return

And straight from the station

as quickly as smart with the customs -

Right into this paultry

this damned, inconsolable, blusted

Rush into the City

I'm blamed for and cursed by my own

When I shall return

Oh, when I shall return...


Yes, when I return

I'll come to the only one Home -

That even the Heavenly Dome

can't compete with in power

And smell of incense

like the orphanage bread, hard and sour

Will flow into me

and start gleaming inside me, so warm

When I shall return...


Oh, when I return

Larks will sing in the winter at ease

That very old tune

that forgotten, that uncounterfeited -

And then I will fall

by my victory overdefeated

And bury my head, like a ship

'gainst the berth of your knees

When I shall return...


So -

When shall I return?