Orders - cannot surrender - and they won’t surrender, Though no one will live to accept the award. Only ravens are circling above our defenders, And black is their scavenging horde. God of War - through the lines on his chariot riding, And soldiers are lying immobile again. From thin air the white birds have appeared, they are gliding Above the stiff bodies of men. The white birds will appear for our troops who are dying, For all meet their birds when their passing is close. And the carrion-seeking black crows will be flying Above the black column of foes.
© Kirill Tolmachev. Translation, 2023