Nudity
(translated from Russian by Tino Villanueva, Gaylord Brewer & author)

Nudity too is a kind of clothing,
even, actually, an armor.
Make merry at the beach
as once you were crasy for rock music and cognac.

It's not hard to shock the ladies
with your front and your behind -
but shoud you try dancing, nerves nude,
on guitar frets?

Should you dare to dash out,
brash and naked,
with a red line
on paper's white stage?

Should you try to find a new level
between devil or angel -
discarding in the name of the hope
all burden of clothes and armor?

Oh Lord, save me!
Look - here I am.
Give me the passion and strength
to be what I am.
Grant me the gift
to distinguish always
the skin from the clothes,
the mask from the face.

Step by step I walk through a kingdom of trouble -
stern, watchful, alert.
Roads choose me,
the ones thornier than others.

Monsters aim my heart
and smirk: "Death to the naked!
If you want to live, don't try
to undress or even open your visor".

Hostile looks strike like laser,
envy squirms like a snake.
Step by step I walk imprisoned in metal,
barely myself underneath.

But I do beleive this possible -
a heavenly moment of nakedness.
Love on a bed of meadow,
bathing in sacred waters.

Oh Lord, save me!
Look - here I am.
Give me the passion and strength
to be what I am.
Grant me the gift
to distinguish always
the skin from the clothes,
the mask from the face.

The original poem in Russian
The list of the poems
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