15 April 2010. Quiet spring sun, almost to those mornings in early May when the world feels entirely remade...
"Here the birds don't sing
The trees don't grow
And only ourselves, shoulder to shoulder
Rooted here on this ground..."
Okudzhava's voice, almost tender--a song from the war, twice distant now. Story told, and retold...
"Someday we'll remember this
And will not believe it
But for now we need a single victory
One for all--
For less we will not stand..."
Photograph, for many years on bedroom wall, in Oceanside--from a friend of my parents, made somewhere in Italy, also during the war. A group of children together in a doorway--one of them holding a crust to his mouth. Written below, in pencil-- "Bread for one..."
To learn these truths...
* * *
(The scene here, again, from "V Boj Idut Odni Stariki," (Only Old Men Are Going to Battle). Hillside, in silhouette--handing out potatoes to gathered children. Filmed in 1973. For the song, Okudzhava's voice: Десятый наш десантный батальон
No comments:
Post a Comment