BARBARITY. A poem by Musa Jalil, October 1943
BARBARITY
A poem by Musa Jalil, October 1943.
They gathered them,
So painfully calmly,
Children and women...
And drove them into the field.
A hole for themselves
Those women were digging
The fascists stood by,
Watching, joking...
Then next to the hole
They lined them up
Exhausted women
And frail kids.
He then climbed up,
The predator-nosed major,
Staring intently
At these people.
It was a rainy day,
Leaden clouds
Touched the meadow,
Pushing each other
With their sides.
I heard then,
How the rivers were wailing,
How the water howled...
The streams screamed,
Like little children...
I will never forget this day
Until my death.
And the sun through the clouds
(I saw it all!),
Weeping, caressed the children
With its light.
How the wind was howling,
Heartless and cruel,
That wind, with the roots
Uprooted an oak tree.
The huge oak fell
With a heavy sigh.
And in horror the children
Clung to skirt hems.
But the sound of a machine gun
Suddenly managed to interrupt
The curse that the mother
Had thrown at the devils!
The son's little hands trembled,
His lips quivered.
He cried into
Her faded skirt.
Tearing to pieces
Her soul,
As if the son shouted,
Already understanding it all:
"They're shooting! Cover me!
I don't want to die!"
Bending down, the mother
Took him in her arms,
Pressed him to her chest:
"Don't be afraid, now
There won't be on earth,
My little one, us...
It won't hurt...
Instant death...
Just close your eyes,
Don't look.
Otherwise the executioners
Will bury us alive.
No, it's better to die
Together from a bullet. "
He closed his little eyes,
and a bullet entered his neck...
Suddenly lightning
Illuminated two trunks
And the faces of the fallen,
Whiter than chalk...
And the wind suddenly shrieked,
and thunder roared.
Let the earth groan,
Let it cry howling;
Let the tear be as hot as magma!
Planet!
You live for millions of years,
There's no number
To your gardens and lakes.
But have you seen ever
A more shameful case
Than what's happening now?
My country,
With the truth is on its red banner!
That banner has been washed
With so many tears.
With the flames of that truth
Destroy the executioners
For the children's blood
And for the blood of the mothers!
Source: Young Guard
Photo: The monument in honour of Musa Jalil in Khazan.
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