Requiem

(An excerpt from the poem)
To the memory of the men of the Soviet Army
who fell in action during the Second World War.

Remember!
Swift though the stream
of days and years
may flow -
remember!
To those who fell
a debt of love
we owe -
remember!
This debt lives on:
no tears
can e'er repay,
nor sorrow;
We must
keep faith with them
today,
tomorrow.
Our dreams,
our songs,
and all the joys
that life
was made for
At bitter cost,
in battle's direst strife
were paid for.
Hear this my plea:
with all my strength
I urge -
remember!
With every breath,
with every heartbeat's surge -
remember!
E'en when our song
the starry skies has filled -
remember!
Hear yet the voice
of those whose song is stilled -
remember!
Tell to our children
how our peace was won -
remember!
And may
their children
pass the message on:
remember!
Hail the new age
that's knocking
at our door,
0, Men of Earth!
Slay
the foul beast
of murd'rous war,
0, Men of Worth!
And as we sail
the conquered Space o'erhead -
remember!
Pay homage still
to our unconquered dead -
remember!

Robert Rozhdestvensky.

Translated by Archie Johnstone.

Robert Rozhdestvensky (b. 1932). From school he went to Petrozavodsk University, then transferred to the Literary Institute in Moscow, where he completed studies in 1956. His work was first published in 1949 and his first book of poetry. Spring Banners, appeared in Petrozav