This is by Diana Arbenina of Night Snipers, a major Russian rock band; Arbenina, unlike many critics of the war, remained in Russia, where her career obviously suffered as a result of her position. I thought I’d let you know about my poor attempt at translating the song; of course, its impact is much greater in its original rhymed and metric form.
Every day there are fewer words,
And more ellipses.
Everything is serious now
Not important and not urgent.
There’s no need to go faster,
Where there is a road there is now a trench;
The first one became bait
And the second fell as a target.
Every day there is less sun,
Less sleep and wind.
It’s useless to ask
Don’t find an answer.
God has left the city
And disappeared into the hills,
What is going on,
What’s happening to you, people?Consciousness is under anesthesia and the soul…
The soul has become blind.
Every day there are fewer possibilities,
Less honor, less.
All that’s left is
My eternal guitar
If it weren’t for this,
I would have disappeared long ago.Every day there are fewer friends,
The names burn
As well as hopes
Someone will fix all this.
Life flows like oil
The knife tears living flesh into pieces
And it doesn’t matter anymore
Who has left and who is home.It couldn’t be like this,
Even if I lived it a thousand years, I wouldn’t believe it,
God is gone and
The doors slammed behind him like gunshots.
God has left the city
And disappeared into the hills,
What’s next, folks?
What will happen to us, people?
The mail "God is gone" first appeared on Reason.com.