A Hero of Our Time
after Lermontov
A truck loaded with hay was going in the opposite direction.
My window was open, and the hay smelled so nice.
When I came level with the truck at a turn, I reached out
for the hay. The vehicles were very close to each other, and
then suddenly my steering wheel turned to one side. We were pulled
toward the truck’s rear wheel. I turned the wheel sharply the other way.
The unfortunate Zaporozhets1 charged on two wheels, and I
practically lost control. We were about to fly off into a ditch,
but luckily we landed – on all four wheels. My coach sat there rooted
to the spot, he didn’t say a word. Only when we’d pulled up at the hotel,
he got out of the car, looked at me and said, ‘you take risks.’
Then he walked on without further comment. Sometimes
one does these totally inexplicable things.
What drew me to that truck?
It must have been
that nice hay smell.2
1. A very cheap car common in the Soviet Union.
2. This poem is a quotation from Vladimir Putin, First Person, 2000 (От первого лица. Разговоры с Владимиром Путиным, Н.Геворкян, Н.Тимакова, А.Колесников. Вагриус, 2000).