Atlantes is a song written by the Russian poet and singer-songwriter Alexander Gorodnitsky in the early 60's. The song is about the humanoid pillars resembling the greek Atlas, positioned by the Hermitage museum: I wrote a literal translation of it, staying true to the original rhyming scheme: Atlantes When your heart isn't light And your chest is cold To Hermitage at night Come as the stars unfold Where without wine or rye Forgotten and alone The atlantes hold the sky On their hands of stone To carry such a content Is not a painless fate Their backs are arched with torment Their knees trembling and bent Their rigid, endless work Is most vital of them all Let just one of them tire And the entire sky will fall Widows weeping in the dark As the green fields burn A mushroom cloud will spark The end of earth will turn And every year the heavens Press yet harder still They shake under the pressure Of rocket ships’ loud shrill The lads stand at rest Unnoticed, without fame So long ago were placed And no replacements came They do not sleep at night Not cheered by light of day Their beauty pure and white Will crumble at war’s way They stand there for the ages Backs pressed against the rock Not gods – they're mere mortals But used to ruthless work We hope, we live and try For in our hearts we know That atlantes hold our sky On their hands of stone
