Borodino Part 2 By Mikhail Lermontov
And when the sky turned light and rosy
All started fussy fast and noisy,
Line by the line had shown.
Our colonel’s born as dashing fellow,
Tsar’s servant; dad for soldiers. Bellow
spread after wound – not voice of cello,
So pity, now he’s gone.
He told us with the eyes of fire:
“Guys! Moscow is behind” and prayer
said for Moscow here we’ll die
like our Brothers in Arms were dying
And we gave oath without the lying,
We kept it truly without crying,
Borodino, good-bye!
Oh, what a day, through smoke of battle,
French went like clouds and it was fatal
For our poor redoubt.
Uhlans with their motley badges,
Dragoons with horse-tales; dust and ashes;
They all were here on wings of vengeance,
They flashed and they went out.
You’ll never see the fight like ours!..
There were the shades and flying banners,
The blaze had seemed through smoke,
Damask was singing, case-shot’s squealing,
The warrior’s arm had tired of killing,
Balls couldn’t fly through bodies thrilling,
We couldn’t even walk.
The foe had known the rage and power
Of Russian combat in bad hour,
What does it mean – dogfight!..
With jolt of earth our chests were shaking,
A thousand volleys merged in aching
howl; horses, people were making
Blood mass before the night.
It became dark, but we were ready
Since morning stand against them steady
Again, until the end…
Drums rattled, enemy retreated,
We started count the wounds, we did it,
We were so tired, but undefeated,
All had his parish friend.
It was the time there were the people,
The modern tribe looks like some cripple,
They’re Heroes they’re not you.
Their fate is bad their fate is sorry
Not many had returned with glory,
God will be done and our story
Left Moscow beauteous view.
P.S. This is my translation of poem by Mikhail Lermontov
Copyright © Serge Lyrewing | Year Posted 2017
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