Passing Through Borodino

by Tran Dang Khoa

The heaven is tranquil and peaceful
The descending snow is fluttering
The winners and the losers
Are now become dust

The crows’ lonesome silhouettes fly by
Over the battlefield of a distant year
Dusk frightfully burns
The fiery shades of wartime

Gone are the gun smoke and the trenches
The birch forest is empty
The wondrous shades of the Russian sky
Descends upon the remnants of the French troops

The ambitions and desires
Dim the snow-filled evening
Or perhaps, the spirits of those that died in the war
Still linger in this place?

The snow still silently falls
Smoothly white underneath the soles
As though there had been no bloodshed
Dripping wet at this place

All the timeless glory
All the bloodshed of a bygone age
Are now the entertainment
With which the children play…

1989

The location where Napoleon suffered a heavy defeat in the war against Russia in 1812. It is now a tourist attraction in Russia.