About heroism

Category: Poetry
I know in your song, dzhigit, there is
A flame and love to the native land.
But the warrior is famous not for his song:
What tell me, have you done in the war?
Have you stood up for your motherland
At the hour when a great battle was in full swing?
The brave are known in the battle,
The hero is tested in trouble.
The battle asks for courage, dzhigit,
The one who is brave goes to battle with hope.
With bravery freedom is like granite,
Who doesn't know courage is a slave.
One can not be saved by entreaty, if the enemy
Takes us in the iron captivity of chains.
But there will be no chains on the hands that
With a sabre strikes a blow at the enemy.
If life passes without a trace,
In meanness, in slavery, what is the honour?
The beauty of life is only is freedom!
Only in the courageous heart there is eternity!
If your blood was shed for your motherland,
You will not die among the people, dzhigit,
The traitor's blood is shed into the dirt,
The blood of the courageous one is burning in the hearts.
Dying, the hero will not die —
The courage will stay in ages.
Your name glorify by fighting,
So that it never dies on everybody's lips!
December 1943