epub

Ciotka

The faith of a Belarusian

I believe we shall be people,

Soon our dreaming will be o'er;

We'll scan the world more widely, deeply,

And the age shall write our law.

Not with ink on paper, treasure

Hidden in some archives' store, -

It will take of sweat a measure

And upon the ploughland pour,

Watering the earth which gives us

Sap to swell the grain for bread.

We eat, and through the folk 'tis whispered:

'Rise up, O ye in blindness bred!'

I believe in strength within us,

In our free-will, tempered hard,

Fire I feel, not coldness, in us,

Friends, we are not made from card,

Not of plaster, but stone burnished,

Made of iron, made of steel,

They have forged us in the furnace

So we stronger be in zeal.

Now, friends, we are granite mighty,

And our spirit dynamite is,

Mailed fist, breast in armour shining,

Time to rend our bonds confining.

 

1905

 



Пераклад: Вера Рыч
Крыніца: Like Water, Like Fire. London, 1971.