Music by Vladimir Ragimov
               Lyrics by Rasul Gamzatov

It's time for me to go, my darling.
I shall pack no things.
I leave the song of joy the starling
In the morning sings.

I leave the moonlit night, the breeze,
The flowers in the grass,
The murmuring of distant seas,
The torrent's mighty bass,

The gorges wind and rain have carved
In rugged mountain peaks,
As dear as my own mother's scarred
And weather-beaten cheeks.

I shall not take the river's lustre,
Nor the lazy glow
Of rays that round your shoulders cluster
When the sun is low.

I shall not take what's mine from birth
As much as flesh and bone:
The winding path, the scent of earth
When hay is newly mown.

I leave the cooling rain, the baking
Sun, the sky above...
Far more than this, my dear, I'm taking,
For I take your love.

1977, Moscow