By Five O'clock at Dawn
/ZÍtra ráno v pět
Translation: Roman Kostovski

By Five o'clock at dawn
I'll be standing by a wall
Lastly just for fun
I'll drink vodka to us all
I'll tear the ribbon from my eyes
So I could look towards the sun
And then I'll realize
You're my love my only one
By Five o'clock at dawn
The priest will come to me
I'll tell him that he's wrong
It's not heaven that I seek
That I lived the life I lived
And I'll live it that same way
No matter how much I sinned
No matter how much I pay
By Five o'clock at dawn
The lieutenant will shout "Fire!"
A pity that the days are gone
When I showed you my desire
I'll bid farewell to the sun
And my heart will feel no mirth
For I'm leaving you, my love
Leaving you on this earth
By Five o'clock at dawn
Day will ease the night its fall
With no where to hide no where to run
I'll be standing by a wall
So keep a candle for me lit
And hide away your grief
I beg you don't forget
Don't forget and live
Heaven and Hell / PEKLO A RÁJ
Translation: Roman Kostovski
Grayness and gloom
Crippled horses slowly gallop
A poppy seed taste
Fog covered the rusty Rhine
A wall meets its doom
And from an aging wooden wardrobe
Mercury waste
Spills a blood image of mine
Heaven and hell
That little spotted rambling raven
Cackles his say
Outside to my gate
Heaven and hell
Goodbye my sweet and gentle haven
For the first time this day
I will feel afraid
A quaint little hearse
Filled with rags and fluffy pillows
Drags through the forest
Its glass is the air
Grayness is cursed
The dogs will pair with all the widows
Pictures from above
With no love to be shared
Heaven and Hell
A ladder’s mould that blooms and grows
A coat made of caddis
And stench everywhere
Heaven and Hell
A Song above, a song below
In a trouveur’s parade
We’re burning the air
With a tap tap tap tap
A dark horror keeps on knocking
The cold sweat I wear
From hopes that have passed
I’m like a crab
I have a crabby way of walking
As I sit on a stairs
Will someone pour me a glass?
Heaven and Hell
Those little snifters - little blisters
Like a swarm of mosquitoes
For my blood they both long
Heaven and Hell
Herod’s slaughtered baby sisters
They’ll ruin my guitar
And they’ll ruin my song
HUSITA
Translation: Roman Kostovski
I was a shepherd boy for the local town
A shepherd boy I am no more
The rich man keeps the poor man down
and down Till he can't take it anymore
Till he can't take it anymore
Mamma tailored me the best of kirtle gowns
It fits me fine and comfortably
Papa brought the lance he hid in our barn
A Husite, son, you soon will be
A Husite, son, you soon will be
The hetman cried out “Raise your Sword!”
Strike the rich men, bash their horde.
And my heart is pounding
Like a drum its sounding
My soul’s for passion and my Lord
My soul’s for passion and my Lord
The crusaders at Tachov standing side by side
Their armor ringing like a bell
My lance is heavy, and fear staggers deep inside
I can’t say that I’m feeling well
I can’t say that I’m feeling well
So many pretty girls walk upon this ground
I’ve never took one for my own
If a crusader will come and strike me down
I’ll be pure before that heaven’s throne
I’ll be pure before that heaven’s throne
The hetman cried out “Raise your Sword!”
Strike the rich men, bash their horde.
And my heart is pounding
Like a drum its sounding
My soul’s for passion and my Lord
My soul’s for passion and my Lord
By the fortress from our wooden wagons made
Mary in the distance waves
Oh crusaders lay one hand within her way
And I’ll be spitting down upon your graves
I’ll be spitting down upon your graves
I tried to kiss her over there behind that tree
She told that I should behave
If I live tomorrow Mary wait and see
I’ll make you mine that given day
I’ll make you mine that given day.
The hetman cried out “Raise your Sword!”
Strike the rich men, bash their horde.
And my heart is pounding
Like a drum its sounding
My soul’s for passion and my Lord
My soul’s for passion and my Lord
I see crusaders boldly coming down the hill
Golden crosses hanging low
When they heard the song that rendered our will
They turned around hit the road
They turned around hit the road
In the tall grass someone stumbled on a hat
To a cardinal it once belonged
And in that grass both Marie, and I her lad
Will live the best of common wrongs
He who lives should love for long
Let history judge all we’ve done
Jongleurs /Kejklíři
Translation: Roman Kostovski
Wandering jongleurs roam
Through the snow covered plains
On a old battered plate of stone
They have breakfast made of rain
With a little monkey dancing on their shoulders Life has made them just a little older.
Wandering jongleurs roam through the snowy plains
By the forge at the edge of town
The snow melted away
The gentle blacksmith comes around
And invites them to stay
The straw is both a pillow and a cover
And soon they cuddle up to one another
For the show must go on the following day
The jongleurs are back on the road
The jongleurs are back on the road
A ball bounces with such grace
Down the church’s stairs
The man with an angel face
Bends steel in the air
And fair maid Marina will put you in a trance.
As she dances for us Odin’s pagan dance
And tomorrow afternoon they’ll leave without a trace
The jongleurs are back on the road
The jongleurs are back on the road.
A wagon made of maple wood
Rattles slowly down the road
That red and restless human blood
A crest that life bestowed
All that we crave for lies within our reach
Pass the seven kingdoms pass the seven seas
Upon this winter land the sun is gleaming in the snow
Magdalene / MAŘENKA
Translation: Roman Kostovski
Don’t you cry Magdalene please wait for me
I wanted to offer a shoulder to lean
A road waits ahead through a thicket of thorns
If I left you behind I’d rather never be born
Just a shirt on by back and the coat that you wear
We're lost from the start on this journey we bear
Two stars brightly shining all through the night
The good Lord has left us to our own plight
Please hold my hand through this wintery day
Nothing is easy that’s coming our way
Who else could know this better the we
Thrown in the darkness both you and me
The ships sailed away, birds southbound have flown
He without sin let him cast the first stone
Both Love and Truth to our world was once shown
But those who have look at them turned into stone
I am your lover and you are my bride
All that we lived on this road we abide
Should never be pondered my love cant you see
Two hungry wolves lurking behind an oak tree
Two hungry wolves lurking with scares on their face
They're two angels banned from the heavenly gates
They’re silent within their hunger is strong
Only I dare to love you all my life long
You are the only one to meant next to me
I’ll start you a fire from dry leaves and weeds
When the flames start to burn and coals start to glow
I‘ll be faithfull to you and you’ll be my own.
I will climb up above to the crown of a tree
The light of the moon shines on both you and me
Through gorges and holes and uneven land
We look at the grace that above our heads stands
Through gorges and holes and uneven land
Hm……
Ostrava / OSTRAVO
Translation: Roman Kostovski
Ostrava Ostrava
City of all cities
My bittersweet felicity
Ostrava Ostrava
Blackened star above my head
God has given
Beauty to all the other cities
Steamboats on the rivers
And picture perfect ladies
Ostrava Ostrava
Your red heart
A fate sealed from the start
Ostrava Ostrava
Where did I lose my sight
When I rushed towards your light
Ostrava Ostrava
Blackened star above my head
And my rambling legs
Where ever they would bear their load
The birds up in the sky
Would draw me to that single road
Ostrava Ostrava
Your red heart
A fate sealed from the start
Petersburg / PETĚRBURG
Translation: Roman Kostovski

When the night falls over Saint Petersburg I’m overcomed by woe
That old stray dog never took the bread crust I gave him long ago
Tonight my true love and prince Igor shall be wed
A glass of vodka, a pistol to my forehead
That old black raven lurks on Saint Petersburg
The Devil cursed my soul
The birds are blinded by the gleam of twilight
That burns a color red
My soul surrendered to the luring vastness
Of the open steppe
Nothing compares to my lone and painful sorrow
You will be blamed when you see me dead tomorrow
You will be blamed when,
Nadezhda, they will find a bullet in my head
SARAJEVO
Translation: Roman Kostovski

Across
Galicia's fields the wind is cruel and grave
The last of what we had all the waters took away
Like swallows heading south, like a widows veil
We fly above the Earth - two letters in the mail
The fire is still burning, the wood kindles slow
But now its time to go to bed
Sarajevo lies in that valley below
That is where tomorrow we shall wed
In a simple church we'll bind before a priest
A wreath of tamarisk he'll then throw in a creek
And in the open sea the creek will end its flow
With heaven up above we'll be living down below
The fire is still burning, the wood kindles slow
But now its time to go to bed
Sarajevo lies in that valley below
That is where tomorrow we shall wed
I'll build for you a house made of solid stone
And beams of sturdy oak it will be our only home
So everyone will know that I loved to the end
I'll build strong and firm, forever it will stand
The
Battle's After math / Krajina po bitvě
Translation: Roman Kostovski

We're aiming at each other
Aiming both you and I
Silence has spread around
Only a mutt barks closely by
And Death is sailing on a withered wreck
The rain is falling I can hear it rattle
And we're the only two, who saved our necks
In this God forsaken battle
We're aiming at each other
Aiming both you and I
Upon the trenched and ravaged soil
Lies a lifeless butterfly
And Death looks down on us in victory
As she roams the field of our fallen
And for the sake of our own history
Mortal life becomes an omen
So we're aiming at each other
Aiming both you and I
And none of us has had the chance
To catch the undertaker's eye
In so many charges and so many retreats
Luck has left our fate undecided
And in the distance of a hundred feet
We still remain divided
We're thinking of each other
Thinking both you and I
What counted yesterday,
Today isn't worth a dime
But still the horror hangs above our heads
It's hard to find a love for one another
When both of us have seen the lives and deaths
Of our fallen brothers
I know nothing of who you are,
You know not who am I
The wind endures the scent of blood
And breezes gently by
The smell of death seeps underneath our skins
Act one now is almost over
Just two times six liters of blood within
Is left to spill all over.
We'aiming at each other
Aiming both you and I
Drunk from fatigue we lie like beggars
In dirt and dust and slime
The day is dying outlived by the night
Who on earth is there left to trust?
Who can we turn to when no one's in sight,
And sleep has overcome us
So we're aiming at each other
Aiming both you and I
One heaven for to weary foes
Under one dark and starry sky
Our blood runs in equal river flows
We're both embraced by Earth, our Mother
And as we sleep in our dreams we slowly go
Closer and closer to each other.
The
COMET /kometa
Translation: Roman Kostovski
I noticed comet fly over the distant night
I wanted to sing to it, it vanished before my sight
Vanished beyond where the fawn in the forest hides
And the sparks left a glimmer of golden coins in my
eyes
The glimmer of gold I hid under my cellar door
When it comes back then, we won't be here anymore
We won't be here anymore oh pride my shallow curse
I noticed a comet fly I wanted to sing a verse
About the grass, about the creeks, about the woods
How death we would remedy if we could
About our loves about our hates about our mirth
And about all those who live on this planet earth
Through the heavenly gate the stellar trains ring
their verse
John Keppler wrote out the laws of the universe
He searched till he found in the realm of his looking
glass
The secrets that burden us as ages gently pass
The laws of the universe, vast in their ancient form
A child from a man and a woman is always born
The root and the branch make the shape of a living
tree
The stream of our hopes travel all through eternity
I noticed a comet fly a vision beyond our words
Drawn by the master who no longer walks this earth
I reached to the sky I just wanted to feel its flow
Vanity stripped me bare, struck me a final blow
Like the statue of David
From clear and white marble stone
I gazed up above standing naked and alone
When it comes back again, Oh pride my shallow curse
We won't be here anymore; will someone sing a verse?
The Deserter and the Brave /hRDINA NEBO DEZERTÉR
Translation: Roman Kostovski
The crows fly above this soil scarred by trenches
The maggots escaped the rain from their miniscule
caves
The men lay down ready to give up their lives
An uncertain time before them arrives
Who is a deserter and who will be brave?
I ordered my heart not to pound, only to let out a
ring
I fancied my hat with a feather from the old boyar
days
Please don’t you dare let my mind know,
That my hands are reaching my soul
Just to see if I’m a deserter or if I am brave
In our backpacks we carry the pictures of those who we
love
The compass points south but we march the opposite way
And fire works rage in the sky
No, it’s not yet my time to die
Not like a deserter, not like the one who is brave
That curse and damned time of true love and absolute
hate
Why did Faust say if I plunder then I would be saved?
The maggots are marching against my birth
I wanted to live my life on this Earth
A bit like a deserter or perhaps a little bit brave
I gather my courage cowered in a puddle of mud
Like the bulk of an iceberg where only the tip is
displayed
My eyes are burning from all the pain
When will my savior explain
That I’m not a deserter that I‘ve been brave.
The Wastrel
/darmoděj
Translation: Roman Kostovski

Last night a man was walking
He strolled a stream of broadways
Last night a man was walking
I saw him pass my doorway
And on a whistle he played a hymn
Like a chime in sacred domes
And the sorrow lied within
That everlasting tone
When I realized that it was him,
I should have known.
I should have known
In my bleak and brittle slumber
I ran out in the streets
In the garbage and the gutters
Audacious rats would feast
And the warm and cozy covers
Veiled motions over dreams
Where lovers and non-lovers
Shook portraits with family themes
And the answers to my question
Were never seen.
Never were seen.
I ran towards that stranger
I grabbed the coat he wore
And in that midnight danger
I sensed the chill he bore
And then he turned around
His eyes a cackling crow
And his scars, they marked a ground
For the wounds that they bestowed
When I realized that it was him
I should have known
I should have known
He was trembling from fear
When I walked along his side
And the whistle he held dear
Was once Hieronymus Bosch's pride
The moon stood above the night
Like silver in the rain
Like my conscience holding tight
Before it hurls down the drain
When I realized, it was my Wastrel
I sensed his pain
I sensed his pain
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My Wastrel he was, vagabond
Of destiny and passion
Who wanders through my dreams,
But my days he can not fashion
My Wastrel he was, evil bliss
Tongue of poisoned berries
Who sells from door to door,
Needles and dictionaries
Last night a man was walking
He walked from door to door
Last night a man was walking
Blood was spilt he walks no more
On his whistle I played a hymn
Like a chime in sacred domes
And the sorrow lied within
That everlasting tone
When I realized that I was him,
You should have known
You should have known
Your Wastrel I am, vagabond
Of destiny and passion
Who wanders through your dreams,
But your days he can not fashion
Your Wastrel I am, evil bliss
Tongue of poisoned berries
Who he sells from door to door
Needles and dictionaries
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When I Was Drafted as a Soldier /Kdyz me brali za vojaka
Translation: Roman Kostovski

When I was drafted as a soldier
They made me leave my old hometown
They shaved my head I looked so stupid
Like the fellas all around ‘round ‘round ‘round Like the fellas all around
They locked me up right in the barracks
And they started teaching me
The skill to kill for my great country
The way a soldier has to be be be be
The way a soldier has to be
After taps up on my bunk bed
I cuddled closer to the wall
I thought about my little sweetheart
And quietly I had to bawl, bawl, bawl, bawl.
And quietly I had to bawl
When she came to pay visit
I was bed bound with the flu
Someone kept on walking on us
So there was nothing we could do do do do
So there was nothing we could do
Don’t you fall my gentle teardrops
She really can’t be blamed for much
A pretty girl needs a true love
And a soft, endearing touch, touch, touch,
touch And a soft, endearing touch
The major wears a lot more medals
She met him at the entrance gate
He said his pad rather empty
And so he took her to his place, place, place,
place And so he took her to his place
Why should you care about a soldier
When his girl dumps him cold
Fare thee well my Frankie Šrámek
This story’s really getting old, old, old,
old Perhaps it’s meant to be untold
Wild Horses /DIVOKÉ KONĚ
Translation: Roman Kostovski
I noticed wild horses
Running as dusk set low
The air was thick and oddly laden
With tobacco
They ran and ran without reins or saddles
Through rivers, fields and hills
Which devil lured them to pass the horizon
Across the hills
Perhaps the cosmos overlaps another;
Perhaps eternity at length
Raw desire I beg you don’t you whither
We still have strength
The smell of young mares suddenly sweetens
By the banks of the lake
Making love is like wild song singing
For evening’s sake
The leaves of grass have bowed their heads low
As they formed a line
The king and court to the outlaws’ gallow
Just arrived
I’d like to run like wild horses
A point of no return
And do away with hagglers and horse-thieves
They never learn
I noticed wild horses
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