Зима в лесуZima v lesu

Tarkovsky wrote “There is no freedom in nature…” in 1973; it was printed in his Izbrannoye (“Selected poems”) of 1982.

The boyar Kolychev of its last stanza is Metropolitan Philip, born Fyodor Kolychev. He became Metropolitan of Moscow in 1566 on condition that the oprichnina be abolished, in March 1568 refused to bless Ivan the Terrible and publicly condemned the terror, and was deposed on false charges and, in 1569, strangled by Malyuta Skuratov.

The song ends, as “Insomnia”“Insomnia” does, on what some call a “lazy” fade-out, so I am lazy twice on this album. It tormented me creatively (as did, really, the album having two similar, loosely speaking, “ballads”), but I found nothing better.