The Height

Our battalion’s commander, in this day,
Had order to take height for controlled fire.
And on this height, he can for ever lay,
But has before to rise on it, entire.
And we have taken this hill in a fight,
And those solders, left alive, well know:
For every man exists his own height,
That must be taken to become his own.
And if we perish on this crazy track,
With death of ours destroying their pill boxes,
Then bury us on heights, ambitious those,
Which, however, we proceed to take.


Translated by Yevgeny Bonver, July, 2001