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Sergey Gandlevsky 
Phil Metres, Translator
Translated from the Russian by Philip Metres
Obedient to a gypsy itch,
Someday we´ll cram our suitcase full.
Someday we´ll stand on platforms
In strange and deafening lands.
We´ll make our circuitous way
Like a daring February snowstorm,
And someday above Kelny city
We´ll light the table lamps.
The smoky nights drag on.
Goodbye, do svidanya, adieu.
As a hunted animal runs
From death, humans run from life.
Nearing old age, with a tourist trunk,
I´ll head off--shaking before my time--
With a flawlessly Austrian face,
And, let´s say, a Turkish wife.
Depressively choosing his words,
An intelligent student will show us
The sights of some boundless place:
Baikal, Leningrad, Tashkent.
The vast Russian land,
A trunk in an old man´s hand.
What will I ask my heart then,
And in what language?
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