I earned my doctorate in your occasional lips
In a sordid pension in Leningrad
Without a passport and outside the law
But drunk like a disinherited king

Fifty rubles was a fortune
And you naked, a mannequin of crimson and gold
They gave us keys to the bridal suite
Which was a hospital room, without a toilet

We had enough for a vodka with lemon
And others with the Menshevik on the corner
When the small talk died, what anxiety
I started to unbutton your trench coat

It wasn't easy in the Soviet Union
To go for condoms at reception
Light-years away from routine
A swallow nested on my balcony

I don't know what happened to us or how it was
That we crossed paths that crazy night
We babbled corny things all for a dime
And we rolled, tearing our mouths apart

We were dying to live
Overacting the bohemian vaudeville
Not sleeping was sweeter than dreaming
And aging with dignity, a blasphemy

You with your beret, me with a beard, long live Che
Newly converted to the faith of the new man
The Berlin Wall hadn't fallen
Nor had the Sarajevo powder keg exploded

Because the revolution had a bearer Achilles' heel
And floating among the ruins
A swallow was widowed on my balcony

Yesterday you were leaving, brunette, from a café
Almost half a century since I last saw you
You were blonde, if I remember correctly
I said, and lying, you're even more beautiful now

You accepted a non-alcoholic beer
The sun had died on the rooftops
Funerals, and with nothing to say
I saw in your pupils a poorly drawn indigo

I don't know why I keep writing this song
But my heart bleeds when I probe it
I learned you married a judge
And Leningrad is once again Saint Petersburg

We didn't even discuss if we would meet again
Pass me your address
And back to the office
A swallow crashed on my balcony

Because the revolution had a bearer Achilles' heel
And floating among the ruins
A swallow was widowed on my balcony

VIEW ORIGINAL LYRICS