Lyrics Константин Симонов - Сын артиллериста.

Was at the Major Deeva
The comrade is Major Petrov,
We were friends with the civil,
Since the twenties.
Together with the white shirt
Checkers on the race,
Together, they served
In the artillery regiment.

And Major Petrov
There was Lyonka, beloved son,
Without a mother, with a barracks,
The boy grew up alone.
And if Petrov is away, -
Sometimes, instead of my father
His friend remained
For this tomboy.

Call Deya Lyonka:
- Well, let's go for a walk:
To the son of an artilleryman
It's time to get used to the horse! "
With Leka together will go
In the lynx, and then in the quarry.
Sometimes, Lenka will save,
It will not be possible to take a barrier,
Will fall and zanycheche.
- It's clear, even a kid!

Deyev will raise it,
Like a second father.
Will put him back on the horse:
"Study, brother, take barriers!"
Hold on, my boy: in the world
Do not die twice.
Nothing in our life can not
Knock it out of the saddle! "
Such a saying
The major was.

Two or three more years passed,
And in the parties has carried away
Deeva and Petrova
Military craft.
Deyev left for the North
And even forgot the address.
See - it's great!
He did not like letters.
But because, it must be,
That he himself did not expect children,
About Lyon with some sadness
Often he remembered.

Ten years have flown by.
The silence was over,
Thunder rumbled
Over the homeland war.
Deyev fought in the North;
In the polar wilderness of his
Sometimes on newspapers
I looked for the names of friends.
Once I found Petrova:
"So, he is alive and well!"
In the newspaper he was praised,
In the South Petrov fought.
Then, having arrived from the South,
Someone told him,
That Petrov, Nikolai Egorich,
Heroically died in the Crimea.
Deyev took out the newspaper,
He asked: "What date?" -
And with sadness I realized that mail
It's been too long here ...

And soon in one of the overcast
Northern evenings
To Deeva in the regiment appointed
There was Lieutenant Petrov.
Deev was sitting over the map
With two smelling candles.
A tall military man entered,
Slanting sazhen in the shoulders.
In the first two minutes
The major did not recognize him.
Only the Lieutenant's Basques
He reminded me of something.
- Come on, turn to the light, -
And put a candle to him.
All the same baby lips,
The same snub nose.
And that mustache - is not it?
Shave! - and the whole conversation.
"Lenka?" "That's right, Lyonka,
He himself, Comrade Major!

"So I graduated from high school,
We will serve together.
Sorry, to such happiness
My father did not have to live.
Lenka's eyes flashed
Unfulfilled tear.
He gritted his teeth in silence
Wiped his sleeves with his eyes.
And again the major had to,
As a child, he said:
- Hold on, my boy: in the world
Do not die twice.
Nothing in our life can not
Knock it out of the saddle! "
Such a saying
The major was.

And in two weeks
There was a heavy battle in the rocks,
To help all, is obliged
Someone risk themselves.
The major called Lyonka to himself,
I looked at him pointedly.
- According to your order
Coming, Comrade Major.
"Well, it's good that I came."
Leave the documents to me.
You go alone, without a radio operator,
Walkie-talkie on the back.
And through the front, along the rocks,
At night in the German rear
You will pass along such a path,
Where no one went.
You'll be on the radio from there
Lead the batteries.
Is it clear? "" Precisely, clearly.
- Well, so go quickly.
No, wait a little.
The Major stood up for a moment,
As a child, with both hands
Lyonka pressed to himself: -
You go to such a thing,
What's hard to come back.
As a commander, I am you
There is not happy to send.
But as a father ... Answer me:
I'm a father or are not you?
"Father," Lyonka told him.
And he hugged him back.

- So, like my father, once it happened
To fight and die for life and death,
My father's duty and right
His son to take risks,
Before others, I should
Son forward to send.
Hold on, my boy: in the world
Do not die twice.
Nothing in our life can not
Knock it out of the saddle! "
Such a saying
The major was.
"Did you understand me?" "I understand.
Permission to go? "" Go! "
The major remained in the dugout,
The shells were tearing in front.
Somewhere it was thundering and bawling.
The major watched by the clock.