Марк Бернес - Журавли (Cranes)

Zhuravli (Cranes)

(translation)

At times, it seems that soldiers,

Who hadn’t come back from the blood-drenched fields,

They did not die; they did not stay in that soil,

But rather turned into white cranes.

And since those distant times until this moment

They fly above and call upon us all.

So, is that why so oft we get so sad and

We get so quiet, when looking at the skies?

That V-shaped drained formation keeps on flying,

Throughout the fog, throughout the dusk of day;

There is a little gap in that formation,

I hope perchance they have it saved for me.

One day will come, I will along with cranes’ flock

Glide in the misty murk like this;

And from the skies I’ll call, like only birds do,

For all of you, whom I have left behind on earth.

At times, it seems that soldiers,

Who had not come back from the blood-drenched fields,

They did not die; they did not stay in that soil,

But rather turned into white cranes…

Composed in 1968

Performed: Mark Naumovich Bernes (Ма́рк Нау́мович Берне́с, 8 October 1911 – 16 August 1969)

Lyrics: Rasul Gamzatovich Gamzatov (Расу́л Гамза́тович Гамза́тов, 8 September 1923 – 3 November 2003)

Russian Translation: Naum Isaevich Grebnev (Rambach) (Нау́м Иса́евич Гре́бнев (Рамбах), 20 October 1921 — 2 January 1988)

Music: Yan Abramovich Frenkel (Ян Абрамович Френкель, 21 November 1920 – 25 August 1989)