Rasul Gamzatov
Three songs there be that thrill the human breast...

Three songs there be that thrill the human breast —
Three songs with human joy and sorrow laden.
And one of them is happier than the rest —
The song a mother sings beside a cradle.

The second by a mother, too, is sung —
Caressing icy cheeks with mourning fingers,
She sings it at the graveside of a son.
The third is sung hy all the other singers.

Translated by Louis Zellikoff