Judas' Monologue

Na gornykh sklonakh veter zvyozdy pas    
I molvil nam uchitel' s bolyu skrytoi
Petukh tri raza ne uspeyet vskriknut'
Ya budu predan kem-nibud' iz vas
  
    On the mountain slope under the stars the cold wind blew
    As our teacher told us with hidden pain in his voice:
    Before the cockerel's third cry,
    I will be betrayed by one of you.

Meshal uchitel' v ochage zolu
My ne mogli skazat' v otvet ni slova
Kak budto srazu vsya mirskaya zloba
Podsela s krayu k nashemu stolu

    Our teacher stirred the ashes where the fire had been
    We could not say a single word in answer
    It was as if all the world's hate and bitterness
    Had just sat down next to us at the edge of our table.

Uchitel' nas ulybkoyu sogryel
No v nei pechal skvozila sokrovenno
I postepenno budto by izmena
Krik petukha za oknami sozrel

    Our teacher warmed us with a smile
    But it was marred by sadness
    And gradually, like betrayal,
    The time for the cockerels to crow came.

Molchali my i gornye vershiny
Srok istekal, skvoz' tuchi svet pronik
I pervyi krik razdalsya petushinyi
Kak sovesti moyei bessmertnyi krik

    We were silent on the mountain top;
    The time was running out, light came through the clouds
    And the first cry of the cockerel came
    Like my conscience's everlasting cry.

Shlyalsya veter tuchami kak penoi
Tak, chto razverzlos' nyebo nakrinyas'
I krik vtoroi razdalsya nad vselyennoi
No ne bylo predatyelya mezh nas

    The wind blew the clouds about like so much foam
    So that the sky looked like it had come asunder;
    And the second cockerel cry came over the heavens;
    But there was no betrayer among us.

Tak neuzheli ty oshibsya, pastyr',
Uchitel', yasnovidyats i prorok?
Svyatynya rukhnyet, razob'yetsya nasmert'
Kogda slova ne sbudutsya v svoi srok

    Were you mistaken then, pastor,
    Our teacher, seer and prophet?
    All that is holy will fall, smash to its death,
    When your words do not come true in time.

Predatyelstvo bez nizkogo raschyota
Vozmozhno li? - Otvyeta Bog ne dast -
No Bog umryot naveki yesli kto-to
Po predskazaniyu Boga ne pryedast..

    Is betrayal without a lower motive
    Possible? - God will never answer -
    But God will die for always if someone
    In accordance with prophecy does not betray God..  

I ya reshil vstat' nad soboyu vekom
Lobzanyem zhivym oskverniv usta
Pozhertvovat' Isusom - chelovekom
Spasaya etim Gospoda Khrista

    [And I decided to rise over myself for eternity
     Tainting my lips with [lies]]
    To sacrifice Jesus the human,
    Saving by this the Lord Christ.

Skorei, skorei - noch shla uzhe na ubyl'
I v etoi okrovavlyennoi nochi
Potseloval uchityelya ya v guby
Chtoby yego uznali palachi.

    Faster, faster - the night was coming to its end;
    And in this blood-filled night
    I kissed our teacher on the lips,
    So that the executioners could recognise him.