I will never forget this battle, The air is filled with death, But down from the sky above The stars were falling - One fell just now, and I made a guess: To come out alive from the battle. That’s how I joined my life With a foolish star. I decided: the trouble went by, And somehow I got lucky... But from the sky fell an insane star Right under my heart. We were told: "We need the height! And do not pity bullets." There went another star For your epaulets. Stars in the sky are like fish in the pond, There is enough for all. If not posthumously - then you would have been Also a hero. I would have given that star to my son, Simply for memory... One star hangs in the sky - Nowhere to fall down.
© Nathan Mer. Translation, 1991