Still, The Night

Soundcloud 
A translation of Hirsch Glick's Shtil di Nakht. See also Daniel Kahn's translation and Isabel Frey's rendition.

Still the night is hung with starlight
The frost around the grass is spun;
Do you think, darling, on the summer evening,
I taught you how to hold your gun?

Her furs wrapped tight around her shoulders
Fingers wrapped on her Nagan
Her velvet cheeks are red, her eyes are lanterns
Watching for the soldiers’ caravan

A shot goes cracking through the forest
The driver’s breast-pocket she’s found
The army cargo truck was full of rifles
She stopped it with a single round

Dark curls, hung with snowy garlands;
The morning reaches through the trees
Our comrades cheer, another victory taken
Our children’s future will be free

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