English poem
Jan Kollár
by Svatopluk Čech (1846–1908)
Canto III. Sonnet 62
A hundred times I spoke, but now I call To you divided, O Slavonians! Let’s be a whole and not a part in clans; Be one in harmony or naught at all.
A dove-like nation we in scorn are styled. But doves you know are come of such a stock That loves to live within a common flock, And so may you apply this trait reviled.
O Slavs, thou race of many fragments! United forces e’er results will show, But waste and dry the circling currents.
O Slavs, who are of many heads a race! The wise indeed a death no worse can know Than life that sloth, void, darkness doth embrace.
Canto III. Sonnet 110
What will become of Slavs in hundred years? What will the whole of Europe come to be? Slav life, just as a mighty flow appears, Shall everywhere extend its boundary.
That tongue, which German henchmen falsely low Proclaimed a tongue of slaves to all around, Shall ’neath our rival’s palace ceilings sound And even spoken be by lips of foe.
Sciences shall likewise Slav channels see; Our people’s customs, dress and music will On both the Seine and Danube modish be.
O would that I had rather been born when The Slavs shall rulers be! Or better still, I shall then rise up from my grave again.