| The sea spread wide
|
| And the waves rage in the distance.
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| "Comrade, we are going far,
|
| Away from our land."
|
| Not heard on the deck of songs
|
| And the Red Sea roars
|
| And the shore is dark and cramped,
|
| As you remember, your heart hurts so much.
|
| Eight has already struck on the tank,
|
| The friend needs to be changed.
|
| As soon as he went down the ladder,
|
| The mechanic yells, "Move!"
|
| Comrade, I can't stand the watch -
|
| The stoker said to the stoker.
|
| The fires in my furnaces do not burn at all,
|
| I can't keep a couple in the cauldrons.
|
| "Go tell me that I'm sick
|
| And I’m leaving the watch without finishing,
|
| All then expired, exhausted from the heat,
|
| I have no strength to work - I'm dying.
|
| The comrade left ... He grabbed a shovel,
|
| Gathering the last strength
|
| The firebox door was opened with a familiar push
|
| And the flame lit up him:
|
| His face, shoulders, open chest,
|
| And the sweat pouring down from them.
|
| Oh, if someone could look there,
|
| I would call the stoker hell!
|
| Steam boilers make an ominous noise,
|
| Trembling from the strength of the vapors.
|
| Like thousands of snakes, those couples hiss,
|
| Breaking out of the pipes somewhere.
|
| And he, bending before the hot fire,
|
| He skillfully threw coal with a shovel.
|
| It was gloomy below - a ray of sun and day
|
| Can't get into that corner.
|
| No wind today, no urine to stand,
|
| The water warmed up, stuffy, hot.
|
| The thermometer rose as much as forty-five,
|
| Without air, the whole stoker.
|
| Having finished throwing, he drank water,
|
| Desalinated water, impure.
|
| Sweat fell from his face, soot traces,
|
| He heard the driver say:
|
| "You haven't finished your watch - you don't dare to quit,
|
| The mechanic is not happy with you.
|
| You should go to the doctor and say -
|
| He will give medicine if he is sick."
|
| Weakly grasping the handrails,
|
| He climbed up the ladder,
|
| Go to the emergency room for medicine
|
| I couldn't, I was suffocating from the heat.
|
| He went out on deck, there is no consciousness anymore,
|
| Everything was cloudy in his eyes.
|
| I saw for a moment a blinding light,
|
| Fell - the heart no longer beat.
|
| They ran up to him with cold water,
|
| Trying to bring him to his senses.
|
| But the doctor said, shaking his head:
|
| Our art is powerless here.
|
| All night in the infirmary the deceased lay
|
| Dressed in a sailor suit.
|
| He held a wax candle in his hands,
|
| The wax melted, heated by the heat.
|
| They came to say goodbye to a friend in the morning
|
| Sailors, friends of the stoker.
|
| The last gift was given to him,
|
| The grate is burnt and rusty.
|
| A grate was tied to his feet
|
| And they wrapped the corpse with a bunk.
|
| The ship's old priest came,
|
| And many burst into tears.
|
| The ocean was quiet, motionless at that moment,
|
| Like a mirror the waters shone.
|
| The authorities came, the captain came,
|
| And they sang "Eternal Memory".
|
| The board was lifted with a trembling hand,
|
| And in the shroud the body slipped.
|
| In the abyss of the deep unknown sea
|
| Forever, splashing, drowned.
|
| In vain the old woman waits for her son home,
|
| They will tell her - she will sob,
|
| And the waves run from the propeller astern,
|
| And their trace disappears in the distance. |