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Anonymous translation
MY courser, come, the Cossack’s noble friend! | |
| Hark! ’t is the signal of the trumpet’s breath: | |
| Thine aid to tyrants and to slaughter lend, | |
| And haste with me to add new wings to death. | |
| I have no gold to deck thy bridle-rein: | 5 |
| But thou wilt neigh with pride, my courser fleet, | |
| When I for thee old Europe’s wealth will gain, | |
| When kings and peoples crouch beneath my feet. | |
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| Fair Peace before thy withering steps shall fall; | |
| Come, fill my greedy hands with treasures free: | 10 |
| Europe has lost her Polish ramparts tall; | |
| Within the Louvre I will stable thee. | |
| Where thou in foam and gore hast bathed thy side, | |
| Now thou wilt neigh with pride, my courser fleet: | |
| When thou shalt drink the Seine’s rebellious tide, | 15 |
| While kings and people crouch beneath thy feet. | |
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| As in a fortress, princes, nobles, peers, | |
| Besieged by suffering subjects all around; | |
| Mid northern wilds their cry the Cossack hears: | |
| “Come, be our master, we to thee are bound; | 20 |
| As serfs forever be thy savage hordes, | |
| But crush our people, let us reign their lords.” | |
| Then neigh with pride, my courser fleet, | |
| As kings and people crouch beneath thy feet. | |
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| I saw the shadow of the mighty Hun | 25 |
| Fix on our tents an eye of scorching light; | |
| Once more he cried, I see my reign begun, | |
| To lands by freedom named, with vineyards bright. | |
| His spirit calls and leads us to the west; | |
| Then neigh with pride, my courser fleet, | 30 |
| For now on France Attila’s scourge shall rest, | |
| Her kings and people lie beneath thy feet. | |
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| All the refinement Europe proudly boasts, | |
| The immortal records of the mighty dead, | |
| The light of other lands, behold the Cossack host | 35 |
| Trample beneath their savage warriors’ tread. | |
| When thus shall fall fair freedom’s cause, | |
| Then thou wilt neigh with pride, my courser fleet, | |
| When temples, altars, glory, learning, laws, | |
| When all that men hold sacred lies beneath thy feet. | 40 |
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