BardicTranslationRoughs/TurkistanExpress

[Audio sample]
Work in progress. Forget meter, I despair of making this lot rhyme! I'm not even convinced I understand Kalugin's meaning half the time he hints at something, so the translation might not be a valid one. Hm..

And thus I went out, having mastered the science of observing,
I looked at my town, and my town was as bleak as death.
All had changed while I studied the reading of Names -
I faced an alien sky, alien roads in an alien land...
I tossed a coin, telling myself: "Good or evil."
The coin gleefully landed on edge three times in a row.
I checked my pockets - a knife, matches and a map of the sky;
And buried in the lining, a ticket for the Turkistan Express.

The train station was full at first, but emptied towards night
And I found I'd forgotten to find out the price of a bed
A dull, dead voice, like that of a caged angel, echoed in the doorways
And talked of points, platforms, tracks I had no use for..
I bought cigarettes in the buffet, and then some wine
The half-drunk attendant asked me while staring out the window:
"Listen, mate, are you sure you know what you're doing here?"
I replied: "Watcher, I am waiting for the Turkistan Express -
The last one of this year."

The train pulled in, and I found my ninth car
The conductor asked for the tickets - the conductor was Him...
He was surprised - a standard green uniform, why was I staring?
I told him: "My lord, I am here! I am not afraid of death!"
I blanked out, and came to as we were passing Ufa
To the sound of some idiot trying to explain the concept of kung-fu
From the top bunk came a voice saying "a good rifle is better every time".
And I thought: "I really did get into the Turkistan Express -
The last one of this year!.."

The glass clanged under the cold titanium like a chain
Behind the crimson window was the start of the Great Steppe
When the conductor came up to me and said: "Perhaps you are right.
If so, keep close to me - I'm leaving the train!"
I don't remember the jump - just landing in the sand.
After, he walked in front; I was limping. We were walking west.
Then he sat down in the grass by a rusty, abandoned railway line,
And he said: "We shall wait. The Turkistan Express will pass here -
Perhaps the first one of the century; the first of this century!.."

(track goes competely silent for ~20 seconds. You start hearing wind, then a characteristic thudding of train wheels, which gets louder..)

He was the first to jump on; I got stuck on some kind of bolts
Someone came out for a smoke; I was pulled into the car by helping hands.
I was told: "Relax, you'll live! Take a swig of this!
She was very close, but this time she failed."
Then we stopped for the mail car, then we passed Ufa...
I blanked out, and came to, and the train rolled into Moscow.
I looked out at my city, and the city was new, alive.
And someone quietly said: "You made it. Hey - you really made it!
Well, then - welcome home, turkistan refugee. Welcome home!"