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MP3 4.0 MB • 128 kbps • 4:21
Story behind the song
Dyomka greets Oleg, who is standing at the door to Dyomka’s new quarters – a recovery room, on the first floor, which Dyomka shares with only one other bed patient. Dyomka has just had his leg amputated, and he and Oleg chat about the ward, and how the other patients are doing. Oleg asks Dyomka if he still intends to go to the university, to which Dyomka says he is going to try his best, since he gets discharged in May. Oleg asks where he will go first, and Dyomka says he plans to visit the zoo. Dyomka asks if Oleg is going to be discharged soon, and Oleg says that he will, since his blood can’t take any more of his treatment, and that his nausea is wearing him out. Dyomka begs Oleg to visit the zoo, and to write to him about it, so that he can have something to look forward to. Oleg promises. The chorus, (the other patients on the floors), sing a Pushkin poem, “Exegi Monumentum,” to close the scene.
Lyrics
13. Dyomka and Oleg, Chorus
Dyomka
Well, hello, Oleg, how are you? Sit down, tell me how things are in the ward.
Oleg
Well, what can you expect in the ward? It’s still the same.
Dyomka
Is ‘Personnel’ still there?
Oleg
Oh yes, ‘Personnel’s there.
Dyomka
What about Vadim?
Oleg
Vadim’s not too good. They didn’t get the gold. And they’re frightened of secondaries.
Dyomka
Poor fellow.
Oleg
So, Dyomka, you ought to thank God they amputated yours in time.
Dyomka
I could still get secondaries.
Oleg
Are they giving you X rays?
Dyomka
They roll me in on a small cart.
Oleg
You’ve got a clear road ahead now, my friend. You must get better and get used to using a crutch.
Dyomka
No, it’ll have to be two. Two crutches.
Oleg
Will you go to the University?
Dyomka
I’ll do my best. I get discharged in May.
Oleg
Where will you go first?
Dyomka
First….I’ll go straight to the zoo.
Listen, Oleg, you will be discharged soon, won’t you?
Oleg
Yes I expect so. My blood won’t take any more. The nausea’s wearing me out.
Dyomka
But you will go to the zoo, won’t you? Send me a postcard afterwards. Then I’ll know a month before they let me out. It’ll be easy enough for you, and it’ll give me such pleasure. Write and tell me what animals they have now and which is the most interesting, all right?
Oleg
All right. I promise.
Chorus
(Exegi monumentum)
I have erected a monument to myself
Not built by hands; the track of it, though trodden
By the people, shall not become overgrown,
And it stands higher than Alexander's column.
I shall not wholly die. In my sacred lyre
My soul shall outlive my dust and escape corruption--
And I shall be famed so long as underneath
The moon a single poet remains alive.
I shall be noised abroad through all great Russia,
Her innumerable tongues shall speak my name:
The tongue of the Slavs' proud grandson, the Finn, and now
The wild Tungus and Kalmyk, the steppes' friend.
In centuries to come I shall be loved by the people
For having awakened noble thoughts with my lyre,
For having glorified freedom in my harsh age
And called for mercy towards the fallen.
Be attentive, Muse, to the commandments of God;
Fearing no insult, asking for no crown,
Receive with indifference both flattery and slander,
And do not argue with a fool.
(Alexander Pushkin, August 21, 1836)
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