С чего начинается родина

What does the homeland begin with?
With the pictures to your ABC,
With good and loyal companions,
Living close by or next door to me.
Or maybe it starts with the Mom’s song
She used to sing often to me,
With something that no one can take from us,
No matter how strongly he wills.

What does the homeland begin with?
With the coveted bench at the gate,
With that very birch tree that slowly grows,
In the wind bending low to the earth.
Or maybe it starts with the starling’s song
B ursting forth in the spring
A nd with the up-country cart-roads
W ith no end in sight.

What does the homeland begin with?
With the windows lit up far away,
With the Father’s old helmet Budenovka
That somewhere in the closet, we found.
But maybe it starts with the knocking…
The knocking of train wheels on go,
And with our oath that we took once
In youth, deep in the heart.

What does the homeland begin with?

1968