If of sudden the friend has turned Not a friend, nor a foe, just - so, If at once, you don’t understand, Is he good, or is he bad, - Drag the guy to the peaks-take a risk! Do not leave him alone on slope, Let him be tied to rope on cliffs - There you’ll know, who he is. If the guy on the heights - is uptight, If at once limp becomes and - runs, On the glacier foot and - drooped, Stumble near ravine - and scream, - Well, next to you then - a strange man, Do not scold him, though - let him go: Those ones are not taken up there, and here Of those don’t sing. If he didn’t complain, nor whine, Though he was angry and sullen, but - climbed, And when you slipped from the cliff, Though he groaned, but - held on, If he follow you, in the fight, And to stand on the summit excites, Then, as on yourself, it seem, Rely always on him.
© Anatoli Trojanowski. Translation, 2016