The meaning of the lyrics of the song "Candles are melting." (Oplavlyayutsya svechi) the performer of the song "Vladimir Vysotsky"

Candles are melting,

Dripping onto the old parquet,

Silver from epaulettes

Flows down onto shoulders.

Like in agony wanders

Young wine...

All that was is leaving, leaving, leaving,

What will come - it's all the same.

And in a dying languor,

Looking back,

Deer are running away,

Into a volley of gunfire.

Someone is aiming a barrel

At an innocent chest...

All that was is leaving, leaving, leaving,

Let something come.

Someone evil and skillful,

Having fun, at random

Shoots sharp arrows

Into the inflamed sunset.

Heard in the storm of melodies

Repetition of notes...

Let the past go, go, go,

Let whatever come, come.

Оплавляются свечи

На старинный паркет,

И стекает на плечи

Серебро с эполет.

Как в агонии бродит

Молодое вино...

Всё былое уходит, уходит, уходит,

Что придёт — всё равно.

И в предсмертном томленье

Озираясь назад,

Убегают олени,

Нарываясь на залп.

Кто-то дуло наводит

На невинную грудь...

Всё былое уходит, уходит, уходит,

Пусть придёт что-нибудь.

Кто-то злой и умелый,

Веселясь, наугад

Мечет острые стрелы

В воспалённый закат.

Слышно в буре мелодий

Повторение нот...

Пусть былое уходит, уходит, уходит,

Пусть придёт что придёт.

In Vladimir Vysotsky's poem "The Candles Melt", we are presented with a scene of fading, decay, and, at the same time, the inevitability of change. The lyrical hero observes how "candles melt onto the ancient parquet," which serves as a metaphor for passing time, for the past that inevitably disappears, leaving behind only traces — "silver from epaulettes."

The image of "young wine" fermenting "in agony" enhances the feeling of anxiety and uncertainty. Wine, symbolizing vitality and youth, is in a state of death throes, hinting at the inevitability of the end, which, however, will be followed by something new.

The motif of hopelessness and doom is traced in the image of hunted deer, "running away... running into a volley." This is an allegory for people cornered by circumstances, by fate, deprived of choice and doomed to perish. "Someone aims a barrel at an innocent chest" — an image of cruelty and senselessness of what is happening, a symbol of destructive forces reigning in the world.

Despite the tragedy of the picture, there is also a motif of acceptance of the inevitable in the poem. The recurring phrase "everything past goes away" does not sound like grief, but as a statement of fact, as an understanding of the natural course of things. Something new will replace the outgoing — "let something come," "let what may come." In this — a philosophical acceptance of the inevitability of change, a willingness to meet the future, whatever it may be.