It’s no way a plain, nor climate’s the same In series come avalanches all day And here, after a rockfall roars a rockfall And one veers off to find a bypass But we opt for the toughest path As dicey as a trail in times of war Who hasn’t been here, nor taken a chance They never ever tried themselves Yet down below they managed to grab the stars Below you never, hard as you try, Will see in your nonchalant life A tenth part of such beauty and wonders at large. No roses of red, no ribbons of black And so unlike a monument Is stone that eventually put you to rest Like Fire Eternal1 there blazes for days The summit with emerald glaze The summit you’ve left unconquered as yet. And let ‘em all say, yes, let ‘em all say But here nobody dies in vain! That’s rather than from vodka and common colds And others will come and change the warmth For risk and this trial of work They’ll follow the abandoned route of yours The vertical rock face... Don’t snooze and look out! And here on fortune you mustn’t rely In mountains nothing’s reliable - glacier or stone But what we rely on is strength in hands The hands of friends and pitons banged And praying that our belay should never let go We’re cutting the steps... No stepping aback!2 And deadly stress is making knees shake The heart to the summit is ready to flee from the chest The world at one glance! You’re happy and numb And slightly jealous of those who’ll come The ones who have this summit a while ahead
1 The name of the Memorial to the Unknown Soldier in Red Square.
2 Or "Not a single step back!" The name of Stalin’s order to the defenders of Stalingrad. Has become an idiom for perseverance.
 
© Nadia ?. Translation, 2017