ČAKS, Aleksanders

A Soldier’s Song to a Latvian Girl

If you are sad, my friend,

don't go –

don’t go uphill to that round café:

the women there

wear expensive lip colors,

Eastern perfumes,

and the aroma of their lovers’ cigars;

the dark-haired violinist is too handsome,

and over one cup of coffee

youths linger for hours,

surreptitiously watching the lonely young girls.

…Don’t go.

If you are sad, my friend,

come with me.