The short poem “Oh, You, Blue Ball” was written in 1961 by Bulat Shalvovich Okudzhava (1924-1997), a Soviet and Russian poet, writer, composer and singer.
Bulat Okudzhava was one of the most significant representatives of the art song genre in the Soviet Union in the 1960s-1990s and wrote about 200 songs. He was a laureate of the USSR State Prize (1991) and a member of the Writers’ Union of the USSR (1962-1991) and the CPSU (1956-1989). He took part in the Great Patriotic War.
Translation of the poem into English:
Ah, you, blue ball,
Sad planet,
What are we doing to you?
What is all this for?
We are all trampling in blood,
But we could…
Rivers full of love
Would flow over you!
Text of the poem in Russian:
Ax ты, шарик голубой,
грустная планета,
что ж мы делаем с тобой?
Для чего всё это?
Всё мы топчемся в крови,
а ведь мы могли бы…
Реки, полные любви,
по тебе текли бы!