LETTER TO A FELLOW SOLDIER/Bahtiyar Hidayet- Azerbaijan

Ah, my fellow soldier,
In the winter war,
we wore such thick clothes
that our uniforms were heavier than our weapons.
Yet we are not respected
as much as a singer
who takes off clothes and sings about the “Homeland.”
Their buttocks
are valued more than our lost lives,
our lost arms, legs, and eyes.
–
Some gave their lives for the homeland,
some their arm, some their leg, some their eye.
But a singer
who sacrificed a rib
for the sake of show business
to have a slim waist
is a hundred times more respected
and more famous than we are.
–
Do you remember?
No matter how warmly we dressed,
we still froze.
We lit fires out in the open.
As the long logs burned,
we pushed them forward.
–
Do not be sad, my friend.
One day they will push us forward too,
like long burning logs.
–
Are you cold again?
Those who gave their lives
are cold as well.
Their bones ache now.
–
Perhaps we died long ago.
We simply do not know that we are dead,
just as we do not know
that we are alive.





