An Anthology of Czechoslovak Literature/October 28th, 1918
October 28th, 1918
Having severed the talon which clutched me,
Talon of a bird which dubbed itself eagle, but was a vulture,
I, the Czechoslovak nation, took my stand
Among the free nations.
The streets are filled with clouds in living guise,
And from them surged joy;
I waxed every instant,
Braced myself and uplifted my head,
While before the clenched fist of mankind
Habsburg and Hohenzollern were retreating.
That the best of my sons amid tempest and griefs
Cherished in their hearts,
Scattered throughout Europe,
Wearing foreign livery,
And also beneath banners of the legionaries,
Had become real,
And I set my name upon all my possessions,
Placing one foot upon Šumava
And the other upon Tatra,
Upon my realm and my freedom.
With my head above the clouds and my heart on high,
But my smile vanished and my pride ebbed away,
The moment's great austerity held me in its sway,
Hallowed thoughts of the world like mighty winds
Were wafted about my head.
I, the Czechoslovak nation, alive and free,
Vowed unto mankind and the great spirits of the world
That a righteous nation I would be.
All who thrust into duress,
All who are bringers of distress,
All who extort and oppress
As far as my arm can reach,
All whose utterance, whose deed, whose achievement
Is the fruit of an unfeigning heart;
All who upraise and set free,
All who defend freedom and justice,
All who destroy thralldom and outrage.
And I vowed that those of my sons I would disown
Who to-day for their yesterday’s guilt refused to atone
And who would not join with me to vow
That all must be alike in freedom now.
“1914–1918” (1927)
This work is a translation and has a separate copyright status to the applicable copyright protections of the original content.
| Original: |
This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before January 1, 1930. The longest-living author of this work died in 1947, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 77 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.
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| Translation: |
This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before January 1, 1930. The longest-living author of this work died in 1970, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 54 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.
Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse |
