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