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

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

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 

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