Poems and Songs of Vladimir Vysotsky. Serving the Elements.
Commentary to the song “For long years, this day was awaited...”
This song narrates about the way to unearthly marvels, and the torches, which are burning in the land of our dreams, symbolize the four major religions of the world — Islam, Christianity, Judaism and Buddhism.
Their founders are symbolized by the four living creatures on the allegorical picture drawn in the Revelation to Saint John. The four and twenty elders are the brother and associate of the founder of Judaism, the Prophet Aaron, the twelve Apostles and the eleven Imams. The Lamb is the awaited messenger, that is the Mahdi, the twelfth Imam, and he, whose appearance is similar to the appearance of One who is like to a son of man, is Porphyry Ivanov, that is the God of the Earth, peace be upon them all. And with the second prophet from the two prophets mentioned in the eleven chapter of this book (the Mahdi symbolizes the first one), they are the thirty armored knights with their sea tutor (he symbolizes the God of the Earth) Alexander Pushkin wrote of in the prologue to the poem “Ruslan and Ludmila” (1822) (it is presented in the commentary to the song “There are no more green oak trees...”). And with the Prophets Adam, Noah and Abraham, peace be upon them, they are the thirty-three stalwart knights with their tutor Chernomor from Alexander Pushkin’s other work — “The Tale of Tsar Saltan” (1831).
And Allah, glorious and exalted is He, knows better.
The song was written in 1976, performed in the film “The Wind of Hope” (1978).