This song is a wheel in a bus,
On a highway in eastern Poland-
A bus with a full load of high hopes.
For high notes
Of high musical art,
The full voices of thirty-five full hearts.
This is the wheel that turns round-
The bus that pulls to a stop-
The song we sing,
The program we finish in spite of a few missed entrances,
and unexpected avant-garde harmonies.
This was the first day,
This is the first night-
Was it good?
It was good.
This was the first day of tour,
of somebody’s – tour de force
Ours?
God’s?
Was it good?
This is God’s house
Slava v vuishnikh Bogu
This is God’s house
ina zemli mir
In which it pleases Him to dwell:
v chelovetsekh blagovoleuiye.
By Christopher Good