Vladimir Vysotsky - 'It's not evening yet!'
By: Vladimir Semyonovich Vysotsky (January 25, 1938, Moscow - July 25, 1980, Moscow) - Soviet poet, theater and film actor, songwriter (bard); Author of prose and scripts.
Laureate of the USSR State Prize ('for creating the image of Zheglov in the television feature film' The meeting place cannot be changed 'and the author's performance of songs', 1987, posthumously).
As a poet, Vysotsky realized himself primarily in the genre of the author's song. The first works written by him date back to the early 1960s. At first they were performed in a circle of friends, later they became widely known thanks to the tape recordings spreading throughout the country. Vysotsky's poetry was distinguished by a variety of themes (street, camp, military, satirical, everyday, fairytale, 'sports' songs), the sharpness of the semantic subtext and the accentuated social and moral position of the author. Existential motives were traced in his works, which tell about the internal choice of people placed in extreme circumstances.
For four years our corsair prowled in the sea,
Our banner has not faded in battles and storms.
We learned how to darn the sails
And plug the holes with bodies.
A squadron is chasing us on the heels.
The sea is calm and you can't avoid meeting.
But the captain told us calmly:
- It's not evening yet, it's not evening yet!
Here the flagship frigate turned sideways,
And the port side was stained with smoke.
A return volley - hastily and at random.
In the distance, fire and death. Good luck with us!
We got out of the worst troubles,
But the wind is weak, and there are leaks in the hold,
And the captain sends us the usual sign:
- It's not evening yet, it's not evening yet!
They look at us through binoculars, through the tubes of hundreds of eyes,
And they see us - from the smoke of evil and gray,
But they will never see us
Chained to the oars in the galleys!
Unequal fight. The ship heels ours.
Save our human souls!
But the captain shouted: - Boarding!
Not yet evening! Not yet evening!
Who wants to live, who is cheerful, who are not aphids -
Prepare your hands for a fight!
And let the rats leave the ship -
They interfere with the reckless fight!
And the rats thought: 'What the hell is not joking?'
And they jumped stupidly, fleeing from buckshot.
And we collided with the frigate sides -
It's not evening yet, it's not evening yet!
Face to face, knives to knives, eye to eye!
So as not to get octopuses or crabs,
Some with a 'Colt', some with a dagger, some in tears -
We were leaving a sinking ship.
But no! They will not send him to the bottom -
The ocean will help, pushing it with a shoulder.
Because the ocean thinks like we do
And the captain was right - it's not over yet!