[Glenn Wright]

Thanks for the suggestions, Julie. I like “foreigner” because it is a touch more contemptuous than “stranger,” so I will use your edit.

Anna is showing contempt for the many Russian “patriots” who fled to Europe or America at the first sign of hardship. The Russian original uses pentameter in an ABAB rhyme scheme. As Carl noted, I switched it to a more military march in 4/4 tetrameter. I could not find a way to keep both rhymes. I tried to use the simple, direct, monosyllabic English vocabulary that shows the undercurrent of determined anger.

I wanted “alien heaven” to function like an oxymoron, suggesting sarcastically a kind of comfortable, Western, materialistic heaven that would be strange and inappropriate for a true Russian patriot. The word небосвод (which I rendered as “heaven”) literally means “sky vault.” In English, this seemed a bit too fanciful considering the speaker’s understandably self-righteous rage. I’m not sure, but I suspect that небосвод, like the English word “firmament,” might carry some Biblical baggage.

The “of course,” (Russian: конечно) includes an eye roll. I had hoped that this came across in the English, but maybe it needs some signposting. Let me think about how that might be possible. Maybe putting “singled out” in quotes, as Anna did?

Thanks again.
Glenn