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# Sergey Orlov's 1966 poem about burned bridges in a person's life
- URL: https://theparnassian.com/en/ty-v-zhizni-zheg-khot-raz-mosty-v-svoei-kak-zhgut-mosty-sapery-nastily-rusha-s-vysoty-i-za-rekoi-ostaviv-gorod/
- Published: 2023-05-09T14:10:29.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-02T19:06:49.000Z
- Author: Alexandr Radayev
- Tags: Books

**Have you ever, even once, burned bridges in your own life,**  
Just as sappers burn bridges,  
Bringing the decking down from the height  
And leaving the town behind the river?  
It is white. Gardens float above it,  
The spires of the bell towers glitter,  
But the bridges to it are burned,  
And you must go away across the field.  
And it is better not to look back.  
There, over the sinless river,  
Bridges burn, bridges burn,  
Set alight by your own hand.  
Have you ever burned bridges in your life?  
Like this, or perhaps otherwise?  
Looking at the flames from the height,  
Turning round a hundred times, weeping.  
Never mind the sappers! They will pass through  
Fire and smoke, but the hour will come,  
The sappers will build the bridges again,  
And the town will look once more into their faces.  
But in life bridges are burned for ever,  
And there is no return to the past,  
To that town beyond the flood of the rivers,  
Where a bridge burns at the height of summer.

*Literal translation*

Sergei Orlov, 1966