Vladimir Vysotsky

        THE COMMON GRAVES

        (Translated from the Russian

             by Alec Vagapov)

             ***

They don't put up crosses on communal graves,  

And widows don't come to shed tears;  

But flowers are laid and eternal flames  

Will never be quenched, it appears.    

The earth that was shaking and heaving of late  

With granite and marble is plated.  

There isn't a single separate fate,  

All fates are in one integrated.    

We see in the flame our burning tank,  

A house on fire and smoulder,  

The burning Smolensk and the burning Reichstag,  

The burning heart of a soldier.    

The tearful widows don't visit the place,  

To give and receive the blessing.  

They don't put up crosses on communal graves  

But does it make less distressing?    

1964