Do not think haughtily of seconds

"Do not think haughtily of seconds;
The time will come when you see it yourself, surely;
They whistle past like bullets in front of your face;
Moments, moments, moments;

Moments are compressed into years;
Moments are compressed into centuries;
And sometimes I don't understand
Where is the first moment, and the last;

Each moment has its reason,
Its bells, its mark;
Moments dole out shame to someone,
Infamy to someone -- and to someone immortality!

Rain is woven of tiny moments,
Ordinary water pouring from the heavens,
And you, sometimes, may wait half your life
When it will come, your moment.

It will come as big as a gulp,
A gulp of water in the heat of summer;
And in general, you must only remember your duty
From the first moment until the last.

Do not think haughtily of seconds;
The time will come when you see it yourself, surely;
They whistle past like bullets in front of your face;
Moments, moments, moments,
Moments..."

Music by M. Tariverdiev
Words by R. Rozhdestvensky (translation mine)
From the TV series "Seventeen Moments of Spring" (1973)