Juliusz Słowacki

“ Oh that my friends around a goblet sit once more,
And drink unto my funeral and their poor lot.
Be I a ghost, I will appear and join them or –
If God may spare me pain and torture – I shall not.
But I beseech you – there is hope while there is breath.
Do lead the nation with a wisdom’s torch held high,
And one by one, if needed be, go straight to death,
As God-hurled stones that densely over ramparts fly.
And as for me, I leave behind a group of friends,
Who for my haughty heart much love did have and room. ”

“ I need rejuvenation, so come back to me
From Poland as if from the skies. I wait for thee.
This work is a translation and has a separate copyright status to the applicable copyright protections of the original content. ”