Он не вернулся из боя [On ne vernulsya iz boya] [English translation]

Why is everything wrong? It seems to be all there:

It's blue again and always the same sky,

The same forest, the same water and the same air,

Only he did not return from the fight.

I don't get it now, which of us was right in the end

In our disputes without sleep every night.

Only now I realized how much I miss my friend,

When he did not return from the fight.

He was quiet, reserved, out of tune, when sang along,

Always talked of something else late at night,

He kept me awake all night long, he got up at dawn,

And yesterday he did not return from the fight.

The fact, that this place is empty, not worth discussing,

Then it hit me, we were both here last night.

It felt like the fire was blown out by the wind,

When he did not return from the fight.

Spring broke free now, as if from a prison camp fence,

I called out to him, not thinking straight:

-Mate, leave me a few drags! In response only silence:

Yesterday he didn’t return from the fight.

Our dead soldiers will not leave us alone in strife,

Our fallen friends will be like our sentries.

The forest like water reflecting the sky,

And the blue of the sky on the trees.

We had enough room in dugout and one enemy,

Time flowed for both of us on dark nights.

Everything is now for one. Only it seems to me,

It is me who didn’t return from the fight.

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• Artist:Vladimir Vysotsky