Frontline Zone

**Frontline Zone** - poem by Aleksander Rybczynski translated from Polish

We live in the frontline zone, we live on the border of heaven and hell
Torn by the ravenous fangs of war's prophets
We refuse the march with a rifle on our backs
And let the whispers of evil slip past our ears
We try to save dignity and remember the places and people
Who paused in our life with a tiny flame of beauty

We cry out for reinforcements
Through decimated, bleeding ranks
Calling to halt weapon transports
Our voices lost in silence
Patrols cutting through darkness
Piercing the fog of endless hunt

We hurriedly write the music of hearts
And follow the trace of life
Lifting our feet slightly above the ground
This is all that remains to us – saving memory
That will never surrender to reset

Above our heads, we hear rockets flying
But most wounding are the shameless messages
Of radio music boxes and television terminators
We endure in a world of barbed wire
Ghosts of bombs, the singing of fools
Madmen and usurpers

We cry out for reinforcements
Through decimated, bleeding ranks
Calling to halt weapon transports
Our voices lost in silence
Patrols cutting through darkness
Piercing the fog of endless hunt