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Nevsky Prospect

A thirty-degrees-below-zero wind
unhindered over the empty piazzas against the bell towers
at times sounding like bursts of machine-gun fire
disintegrated the accumulations of snow.
And around about the fires of the Red Guards
lit to drive away the wolves
and old women with rosaries.
Sitting on the steps of a church
we waited for the mass to finish and the women to come out
then we watched with absent faces
the unnatural grace of Nijinsky.
Then his impresario fell hopelessly in love with him
and with Russian ballet.
The winter with my generation
the women bent over weaving frames near the windows
one day on Nevsky Prospect
I happened to encounter Igor Stravinsky there
and the chamber pots under the beds for the night
and a film by Eisenstein on the revolution
And we studied shut up in a room
the faint light of a candle or an oil lamp
and when it came to having a chat
we were always looking forward to it
and my teacher taught me how difficult it is to find
dawn in the twilight
 
Original lyrics

Prospettiva Nevski

Click to see the original lyrics (Italian)

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