I no longer remember “before” and “after”
Homeless gnomes, and I – a manikin
Legs like wax, our burden is great
And there’s only one hope – to push off from the bottom
Unhurriedly they walk home, and I do not know
Whose war this is and whose campaign
Whatever we ran from, we wound up running into
We have no need of love, nor pity, nor conscience
A tale about those who decided to hang a while
The spider’s webs will caress with thеir tender silk
No use complaining, is thеre, Paladin
The next will step forward in the ranks if one falls
If you’ve volunteered to go slaying the dragon
Be prepared to take over his golden throne
If not, then save your last cartridge for yourself
The parasite lies in wait in the guise of a gold coin
It will strike at your heart through the pocket
Its arrows are poisoned: flattery and lies
Here you’re Pan* or you’re gone, battering ram or barricade
The couch or the pedestal, you either sat* or you marched
Tempered in the forges of war, you are ready
We move furtively through the icy mountain-ranges
Here, the dragon’s palace can be seen by dawn-light
May we not miss-step, opening with our trump-cards
Past the oaken doors, I trudge through the dark
Seeking his tracks by the dragonish fell stench
Along the footprints of soldiers felled before me
I stride into this hall of golden flame
Lazily he lies amid his gold
Smiling his crooked and sinister smile
Is he sleeping, or has he carked it a long time ago
Or merely dreaming in a state of Bardo?
I strode up warily, stuck him with my pike
Out of him poured something revolting and sticky:
Promises and lies, suspicions and delirium
This is no dragon at all, but a feeble old man
I chiseled out his teeth, one after another
Made a bag of his golden-thread drapery
Quietly crept back out, to the light
“Don’t bow down, o people, there’s no dragon here!”
The armour and swords are hammered into ploughshares
Tilled are the soils of past no-man’s lands
I was an insurgent, but became a Khleborub* -
Into each hollow I’m planting a tooth
And now all that’s left is to sit and wait up
For the ranks of the new Red Army to grow
They’ll get to their feet and move out at dawn
And I’ll head back to the cave, to cut back the scales