✕
English
Translation
The Hell of Kolyma
The hell of Kolyma is a world of crooked mirrors [1]
The gray sky fell with white, white snow
With a grey wolf’s howl, it wound throughout the forests
And his teeth shined brighter than the white snow!
The hell of Kolyma is a world of crooked mirrors
The gray sky fell with white, white snow
With a grey wolf’s howl, it wound throughout the forests
And his teeth shined brighter than the white snow!
I underestimated and everything suddenly went sideways
But I gathered all my sadness into a fist
And so before every sunrise
I didn’t endure poverty, I stole. I didn’t just take a nibble, I gorged
And everything inside me shined, it burned with a bright, bright light
Both films and magazines, and ore and crystals [2]
And all of the cops’ spite, but I spat on their rules
The judge entered the room, I didn’t stand up, and central and the train station [3]
But everywhere there was only one way of life – we paint everything black [4]
The hell of Kolyma is a world of crooked mirrors
The gray sky fell with white, white snow
With a grey wolf’s howl, it wound throughout the forests
And his teeth shined brighter than the white snow!
The whole hell of Kolyma, all the heat and tension
All of the lies and truths, all of the good and evil
All the smells from beyond this life!
And the lead and the metal, and the execution and the basement
And all the blood from veins to the floor in a red, red color
Where does one find so much strength, and where does one gather so many rocks [2]
Where one seeks a convict’s refuge is outside the law
Where there’s cleaner air and clean water
The sky reflects a blue, blue, blue color
The hell of Kolyma is a world of crooked mirrors
The gray sky fell with white, white snow
With a grey wolf’s howl, it wound throughout the forests
And his teeth shined brighter than the white snow!
The hell of Kolyma is a world of crooked mirrors
The gray sky fell with white, white snow
With a grey wolf’s howl, it wound throughout the forests
And his teeth shined brighter than the white snow!
xB9Zq✕
Comments
Russia is waging a disgraceful war on Ukraine. Stand With Ukraine!
About translator
[1] - Kolmyskiy Kray is a region with numerous well-known prison colonies/gulags.
[2] - Much of the forced labor in the camps consisted of mining.
[3] - "central" is likely a reference to a central prison, perhaps specifically the infamous Vladimir Central Prison (Владимирский централ) some 200km north-east of Moscow.
[4] - Likely a reference to "black zones" (чёрные зоны), which are areas within prisons and colonies where the government has little control and instead things are run by the criminal bosses (криминальные авторитеты), and the thieves' code (воровские понятия) is the law of the land.