Shall I forget it, that fighting, oh my! Death overhung all around, Stars were falling like rain from the sky down on the ground. There is one falling... I’ll live, in so far as I made a wish, willy-nilly... Now I have bound my life with a star, Isn’t it silly? I thought the trouble had past and I had Managed somehow to escape it... Falling from heaven, a star hit my heart, So unexpected. We were ordered to capture the height, "Don’t spare bullets!" - they told us... There’s another one falling now right, Down on your shoulders. Plenty of starlets, both seen and unseen, There are to be had in the heaven. I’d be a hero now hadn’t I been lost in the hell then. I’d give the star to my son, as a note, A keepsake and all... Stars in the sky go to waste for they’ve got Nowhere to fall.
© Alec Vagapov. Translation, 1998