| What is freedom | 
| muz.and sl. | 
| A. Gradsky | 
| What is freedom, answer me as a spirit. | 
| You can't sew a jacket and you can't weld an ear out of freedom. | 
| I most likely cannot change myself. | 
| Change, comrade, you can't force me to do anything | 
| So I will sit in prison and look at the moon, | 
| But do not howl at the moon, but look at the moon all to no avail. | 
| Like a wolf, they drive me in fire and smoke, | 
| Only the wolf will fit its teeth on the shelf. | 
| Well, I'll fly away, through the night bayonets of patrols, | 
| Past the walls and doors I will dream, unrecognized and fast. | 
| They lock up animals like people and people like animals, | 
| But in the dungeon, you will soon run into a whip or a shot. | 
| You are not old and not weak, the years have no power over you, | 
| But years sometimes go on for years and years. | 
| So there are no fetters, and the people are not ready for freedom, | 
| There are many rumors and words, but the people are not ripe for freedom. | 
| Well, I'll run away, there is no nabob on beans. | 
| And in distant ages I will find, if possible, the essence and | 
| Let them guard me, let them condemn me in terrible judgments - | 
| I am not on good terms with God, and some judges are unjust. | 
| I am not on good terms with God, but other judges are unrighteous |