The meaning of the lyrics of the song "When we met..." (Kogda s toboy myi vstretilis...) the performer of the song "Vladimir Vysotsky"

When we first met, the bird cherry was in bloom,

And music played in the old park,

I was still very young then,

But I had already done a lot of things.

I was always getting into trouble, and the next morning for you

I threw breadcrumbs left and right,

And you told me that you loved me,

That a life of crime is worse than poison.

Once I met you with that jerk in the square.

He was drunk, hugging you with his hand,

He moved in to kiss you, asked you to give in,

And you nodded your head in response.

Everything inside me went haywire, and my heart pounded!

And I, like that fool, lost my mind,

I don't remember how I got to the bar, and there I had a good time and drank vodka,

And cried drunken tears.

Then you met me again on the road,

Recognizing me, you turned very pale,

I asked both of you to step aside,

And the steel of the knife gleamed ominously.

Then I only remember the flashing lights,

How the cops whistled for that jerk.

I wandered by the pier until dawn,

And your eyes were staring into my back.

When they buried you, people were saying:

Everyone was crying, cursing the murderer,

And I sat all alone, looking at the photograph,

From it you were smiling, as if you were alive.

I wanted to drown my short love in vodka,

But I was afraid to steal, oddly enough,

But I got caught up in a stupid story, and was caught by the cops

Drunk, robbing a restaurant.

I'm sitting in the slammer, waiting for my five years,

But suddenly this case was reopened,

Old man Shapiro, the lawyer, came to see me,

He said: "You can't avoid being shot!"

And so they shaved my head, took away my suit,

Now I'm wearing prison clothes,

A piece of blue sky, two little stars in the distance,

They twinkle at me like a timid hope.

And the days grew shorter, and the birds flew away

To where the sun always laughs,

I knew that my happiness had flown away forever,

And I saw - it would never return.

Tomorrow they will announce my final sentence,

Tomorrow I will close my eyes forever,

Tomorrow they will take me out to our prison yard,

And that's when we'll meet again.

Когда с тобой мы встретились, черёмуха цвела,

И в старом парке музыка играла,

И было мне тогда ещё совсем немного лет,

Но дел уже наделал я немало.

Лепил за скоком скок я, а наутро для тебя

Хрусты кидал налево и направо,

А ты мне говорила, что ты меня любила,

Что жизнь блатная хуже, чем отрава.

Однажды тебя встретил я с форшмаком на скверу.

Он пьяный был, обняв тебя рукою,

К тебе лез целоваться, просил тебя отдаться,

А ты в ответ кивала головою.

Во мне всё помутилось, и сердце как забилось!

И я, как этот фраер, зашатался,

Не помню, как попал в кабак, и там кутил, и водку пил,

И пьяными слезами заливался.

Потом ты мине снова повстречалась на пути,

Меня узнав, ты сильно побледнела,

Я попросил обоих вас в сторонку отойти,

И сталь ножа зловеще заблестела.

Потом я только помню, как мелькали фонари,

Как фраера легавые свистели.

Всю ночь я прошатался у причала до зари,

И в спину мне глаза твои глядели.

Когда вас хоронили, ребята говорили:

Все плакали, убийцу проклиная,

А я совсем один сидел, на фотографию глядел,

С неё ты улыбалась, как живая.

Любовь свою короткую хотел залить я водкою,

Но воровать боялся, как не странно,

Но влип в исторью глупую, и взят был опергруппою

По пьянке на бану у ресторана.

Сижу я в несознанке, жду от силы пятерик,

Но вдруг случайно вскрылось это дело,

Пришёл ко мне Шапиро, защитничек-старик,

Сказал: «Не миновать тебе расстрела!»

И вот меня побрили, костюмчик унесли,

Теперь на мне тюремная одежда,

Кусочек неба синего, две звёздочки вдали,

Мерцают мне, как робкая надежда.

А дни короче стали, и птицы улетали

Туда, где вечно солнышко смеётся,

Я знал, что моё счастье улетело навсегда,

И видел я - оно уж не вернётся.

Назавтра огласят мне мой последний приговор,

Назавтра я навек глаза закрою,

Назавтра меня выведут на наш тюремный двор,

И вот когда мы встретимся с тобою.

The song "When We Met..." by Vladimir Vysotsky tells a tragic story of love and revenge, set in a criminal underworld.

The lyrical hero recalls the beginning of his relationship with a girl, when he, still young but already involved in crime ("I've done a lot of things"), was enchanted by her. The girl, seeing his way of life, tried to warn him, saying that "a thug's life is worse than poison."

However, the hero, blinded by jealousy, witnesses a scene where another man, a "cheapskate," harasses his beloved, and she, as it seems to him, reciprocates. In a fit of rage and jealousy, the hero commits murder, for which he is sentenced to death.

In prison, awaiting execution, the hero realizes the full depth of his fall and the tragedy of what he has done. He understands that the happiness he could have had with his beloved is irretrievably lost.

The final lines of the song are full of despair: the hero knows that his imminent death awaits him, and only in death will he be able to meet his beloved again.