The meaning of the lyrics of the song "The Ballad of Fleeting Happiness" (Ballada o korotkom schaste) the performer of the song "Vladimir Vysotsky"

Horns blare: faster, faster!

And the retinue fusses.

The hunters' souls are simple,

Woven from the sinews of oxen.

What a fun game for people -

To kill two white swans!

And arrows rush upwards...

The archers have a keen eye, -

And these swans just happened

To meet today.

She lived under the sun - there,

Where countless blue stars shine,

Where swans dare to take flight,

Soaring high.

Soar up - spread your wings -

Into the thick, trembling blue.

Glide along the slopes of God, -

To such heights, where henceforth

Only angels and groans will dare

To fly.

But he caught up with her even there -

And one moment was bliss, -

But maybe that bright moment

Was their swan song...

Like two white angels,

They headed towards the earth -

A dangerous habit!

From behind the bushes, like behind walls,

Hunters watch, ensuring

Their happiness is brief.

Now they wipe the sweat from their brows,

The perpetrators of the fall:

The last plea came true -

"Stop, moment!"

Thus sang this eternal verse

At the peak of their swan song -

Those momentarily blessed:

They fell together,

Remaining forever on the seventh,

The highest heaven of happiness.

Трубят рога: скорей, скорей!-

И копошится свита.

Душа у ловчих без затей,

Из жил воловьих свита.

Ну и забава у людей -

Убить двух белых лебедей!

И стрелы ввысь помчались...

У лучников наметан глаз, -

А эти лебеди как раз

Сегодня повстречались.

Она жила под солнцем - там,

Где синих звезд без счета,

Куда под силу лебедям

Высокого полета.

Ты воспари - крыла раскинь -

В густую трепетную синь.

Скользи по божьим склонам, -

В такую высь, куда и впредь

Возможно будет долететь

Лишь ангелам и стонам.

Но он и там ее настиг -

И счастлив миг единый, -

Но может, был тот яркий миг

Их песней лебединой...

Двум белым ангелам сродни,

К земле направились они -

Опасная повадка!

Из-за кустов, как из-за стен,

Следят охотники за тем,

Чтоб счастье было кратко.

Вот утирают пот со лба

Виновники паденья:

Сбылась последняя мольба -

"Остановись, мгновенье!"

Так пелся вечный этот стих

В пик лебединой песне их -

Счастливцев одночасья:

Они упали вниз вдвоем,

Так и оставшись на седьмом,

На высшем небе счастья.

In his "Ballad of Fleeting Happiness," Vladimir Vysotsky uses a metaphor to depict the clash between pure, exalted love and the cruelty and mundane nature of the surrounding world. The swans, soaring "to such heights that only angels and groans will ever reach again," symbolize lovers who have experienced the highest happiness of the unity of souls. Their love elevates them above the hustle and bustle of everyday life, likening them to angels.

However, their idyll is fragile and doomed in a world where "from behind the bushes, as from behind walls, hunters watch to ensure that happiness is brief." The hunters embody cruelty, envy, and the desire to destroy everything beautiful and sublime.

The fleeting nature of happiness, expressed in the very title of the ballad, is emphasized by the tragic ending. The death of the swans, caused by the "hunters," is not a defeat. At the moment of their death, they merge into one, their "swan song" is a hymn to eternal love, frozen at the "peak" of happiness. "Happy for a moment" – a paradox emphasizing that true love is stronger than death, and even a brief moment of true happiness can surpass in its power and significance an entire eternity of ordinary existence.

Vysotsky shows that true love can exist even in a cruel world, even if only for a short time. The ballad leaves a feeling of light sadness, but not hopelessness. Love, captured in the "highest heaven of happiness," continues to live, conquering death and reminding us of enduring values.