Adam Mickiewicz

“ One feeling even, hitherto life-sweetening,—
Feeling of love. So when the hunters light
A hidden fire 'neath oaks of Bialowiez,
It burns away the inner pith; the monarch
Of the forest loses all his waving leaves,
His branches fly off, even that green crown
That once adorned his brow, the mistletoe,
Dries up and withers.
⁠Long the Litwini
Wandered through castles, mountains, and through
⁠woods,
The Germans harrying or by them attacked,
Till fought the dreadful fight on Rudaw's plains,
Where many thousand Litwin youth lay slaughtered,
Beside as many of the Teuton host. ”

“ He drew his sword, and looked to every side;
He turned him round, searched with unquiet eye—
'Twas waste around; only the winter snow
Flew in a whirlwind, and the north wind roared.
He looked upon the shore, he stood in grief.
At length with rapid stride, though tottering.
He came again beneath Aldona's tower.
Far off he saw her, at the window still.
"Good day!" he cried; "so many, many years,
We saw each other only in the night.
And now good day! what happy augury!
The first good day after so many years!
And canst thou guess, wherefore I come so soon?" ”

“ But haply even in this passing hour,
Now when their native song their hearts can move.
The pulses of those hearts may beat more strong,
Their souls may feel the ancient pride and love;
And live one moment in such noble power,
As lived their forefathers their whole life long.
But why invoke the ages long gone by,
And for the present's glory find no voice?
For in your midst a great man liveth nigh—
I sing of him. Ye, Litwini, rejoice!
Silent the old man was, and hearkened round,
If still the Germans will permit his song. ”

“ He looked towards the tower, and in low tones,
This song he sang, departing from the place:—
Song.
Wilija, thou parent of streams in our land,
Heaven-blue is thy visage and golden thy sand;
But, lovely Litwinka, [4] who drinkest its wave.
Far purer thy heart, and thy beauty more brave.
Wilija, thou flowest through Kowno's fair vale.
Amid the gay tulips and narcissus pale.
At the feet of the maiden, the flower of our youth,
Than roses, than tulips, far fairer in sooth.
The Wilija despiseth the valley of flowers. ”

“ Alternate here and there the cup's light clash.
"Let us rejoice," he says. "How now, my
⁠brethren!
Beseems it valiant knights to thus rejoice?
One time a drunken clamour, now low murmurs?
Must we then feast like bandits or like monks?
"There were far other customs in my time,
When on the battlefield with corpses piled,
On Castile's mountains or in Finland's woods,
We drank beside the camp-fire.
⁠"Those were songs!
Is there no bard, no minstrel in the crowd?
Wine maketh glad indeed the heart of man,
But song it is that forms the spirit's wine." ”

“ He presses his love to his bosom so cold,
They perish together in sea-depths unknown.
Thee too, poor Litwinka, the stranger shall call
Away from the joys of that sweet native vale;
Thou deep in Forgetfulness' billows must fall,
But sadder thy fate, for alone thou must fail.
For streamlet and heart by no warning are crost,
The maiden will love and the Wilija will run;
And in her loved Niemen the Wilija is lost,
In the dark prison-tower weeps the maiden undone. ”

“ Aye! they shall sing them, and in future days
Some venger shall arise from out our bones." [1]
Alf fell upon the window-sill with tears.
And long, long time upon the tower he gazed.
As though he yet his gaze would satiate
With those dear sights he shortly must forego.
He hung on Halban's neck; they mixed their sighs.
In that embrace of long and last farewell.
But at the bolts they heard a steely rattle,
And armèd men came in, and called Alf's name.
"Traitor, thy head must fall beneath the sword;
Repent thee of thy sins, prepare for death! ”

“ History has not as yet satisfactorily explained by what means a nation so weak, and so long tributary to foreigners, was able all at once to oppose and threaten all its enemies—on one side, carrying on a constant and murderous war with the Teutonic Order; on the other, plundering Poland, exacting tribute from Great Novgorod, and pushing itself as far as the borders of the Wolga and the Crimean peninsula. The brightest period of Lithuanian history occurs in the time of Olgierd and Witold, whose rule extended from the Baltic to the Black Sea. ”

“ Has come to seek protection of the Order;
In recompense doth promise gold and land,
But hitherto for help he waits in vain.
The brothers murmur, council now assembles,
The Master is not seen. Old Halban hastes,
But in the castle, in the chapel finds
Not Konrad. Whither is he? At the tower!
The brotherhood have tracked his steps by night.
'Tis known to all; for at the evening hour.
When all the earth is veiled with thickest mists. ”

“ My heart did pain me hearing, and I longed
To murder all Crusaders, or to fly
To Litwa; but the old man checked my zeal.
'To free knights,' said he, 'it is free to choose
Their weapon, and with equal strength to fight
In open field. Thou art a slave; the only
Weapon that slaves may use is treachery.
Remain awhile and learn the Germans' war-craft;
Try thou to gain their confidence ”

“ Few words relate their carnage, plunder, fire,
And blaze, which may rejoice the foolish crowd.
But in it wise men do with fear confess,
A voice that crieth for revenge to Heaven.
The winds blew on that dreadful fire apace,
The knights marched further to the heart of Litwa.
Report says Kowno, Wilna, are besieged.
Then ceased report, and couriers came no more.
No longer in the region flames were seen,
But further off the heaven's ruddy blaze.
In vain the Prussians look with eager hope,
For spoils and prisoners of the conquered land ”

“ In bloody murders. Now, bent down with age,
Wearied of treasons, I am unfit for war.
Enough of vengeance. Germans, too, are men!
God has enlightened me. I come from Litwa,
And I have seen those places, seen thy castle,
The Kowno castle,—now it lies in ruin. ”

“ But rather slay themselves upon her corse;
As servants true, in good and evil lot.
Will perish on their benefactor's pile.
Others more shamefully in forests hide;
Others, like Witold, dwell among you here.
"But after death?—Germans! ye know full well.
Ask of the wicked traitors to their land
What they shall do when, in that further world,
Condemned to burning of eternal fires,
They would their ancestors invoke from paradise?
What language shall entreat them for their aid?
If in their German, their barbaric speech.
The forefathers will know their children's voice. ”

“ Of Konrad drowns his glance,—a piercing glance.
Cold and severe, full of some secret speech.
Something he may recall, some counsel give,
Or waken grief in heart of Wallenrod,
Whose cloudy brow at once is calm again,
His eyes forego their fires, his rage is cool. ”

“ Lithuania, conquered and oppressed by the Teutonic Order, is Poland, subjugated by Russia; and the numerous expressions of hatred for oppressors and love of an unhappy country woven into the substance of the narrative must be read as the utterances of a Pole against Russian tyranny. The underhand machinations of the concealed enemy against the state in which he is a powerful leader, may be held to figure that intricate web of intrigue and conspiracy which Russian liberalism is gradually weaving throughout the whole political system, and which is daily gaining influence and power. ”

“ Vain are their hopes, for days and weeks flew by;
In peace a whole long year has flowed away,
And Litwa threatens. Wallenrod, ignobly,
Himself nor combats, nor goes out to war;
And when he rouses and begins to act,
Reverses the old ruling suddenly.
He cries, "The Order has overstepped its laws.
The brethren violate their plighted vows. ”

“ Weaves at the loom or spins the distaff thread;
But as the needles fly or spindles turn,
Walter stands by and telleth wondrous tales.
About the German countries and his youth.
The damsel seizes all that Walter speaks,
Her soul, insatiable, devours all things;
She knows them all by heart, repeats in dreams.
Walter related of the castle halls,
Great towns beyond the Niemen, what rich dresses,
What splendid pastimes; how in tourney knights
Break lances, and the damsels look upon them
Down from their galleries, and adjudge the prize. ”

“ O native song! between the elder day,
Ark of the Covenant, and younger times.
Wherein their heroes' swords the people lay.
Their flowers of thought and web of native rhymes.
Thou ark! no stroke can break thee or subdue,
While thine own people hold thee not debased. .
O native song! thou art as guardian placed,
Defending memories of a nation's word. ”

“ And when the evening season I have reached,
I wish to lengthen it by memories:
I reckon by its evenings all my life.
Meanwhile the Order murmurs at repose,
Entreat for war, demand their own perdition ”

“ One last great ring of light shot forth its blaze;
And in this blaze were seen the eyes of Alf,
All white in death, and now the light was dark.
And at this moment through the tower walls pierced
A sudden cry, [2] strong, lengthened, broken off—
From whose breast came it? Surely ye can guess
But he who heard it readily might tell,
That from the breast whence such a cry escaped.
Now never more should any voice come forth.
For this voice a whole life spoke aloud.
Thus lute strings, shuddering from a heavy stroke,
Vibrate and burst ”

“ Simon Grunau, in the sixteenth century, came by accident on the Prussians at a solemnity, and with difficulty saved his life, on promising the peasants, that he never would reveal to any one what he should see or hear; then, after performing sacrifice, an old Wajdelote began to sing the deeds of the ancient Lithuanian heroes, mingling therewith prayers and moral instructions. Grunau, who well understood Lithuanian, confesses that he never expected to hear anything similar from the lips of a Lithuanian, such was the beauty of the theme and the phraseology. ”

“ Now from the hills beyond the Niemen echo
To Kowno bears a mighty army's shouts,
The clang of armour and the neigh of steeds.
Like mist the camp descends, o'erflows the plain,
And here and there the leaders' standards gleam
Like lightning ere the storm. The Germans stood
Upon the shore, threw bridges o'er the Niemen,
And day by day the walls and bastions fall
With shock of battering-ram, and night by night
The storming mines work underground like moles ”

“ The knights attend,—'tis the recluse's voice;
They look upon the grate; she bending seems,
Towards the earth she seems her arms to stretch.
To whom? The region is all desert round;
Only from far strikes an uncertain gleam. ”

“ With dungeons underground, exile, the sword.
Meanwhile the Litwin, who long years afar
Had shunned the portals of the Order's town.
Now burns the villages around each night.
And captive their defenceless people takes. ”

“ Where treads her foot a recent grave up-grows.
O woful sight! But yet a heavier doom
Foretold to Litwa from the German side,—
The shining helmet with the ostrich plume,
And the wide mantle with the black cross dyed.
For where that spectre's fearful step has passed,
Nought is a hamlet's ruin or a town,
But a whole country to the grave is cast
O thou to whom is Litwa's spirit dear!
Come, on the graves of nations sit we down;
We'll meditate, and sing, and shed the tear. ”

“ War. [1]
War now. For Konrad may no longer curb
The people's zeal, the council's fierce insistance:
The whole land calls for vengeance long delayed,
For Litwa's inroad, and for Witold's treason. ”

“ Where princely lords obey their maidens' bests;
Like to our warriors great in warlike pains.
Tender in love as are our shepherd swains.
Where man, from covering of clay set free,
A wingèd soul, flies through a joyful heaven. ”

“ He called to council the unwilling knights.
Looked on them, spoke, and beckoned. O disgrace!
They hear attentive, and believe his words.
They view Heaven's judgments in the faults of man;
For whom of humankind persuades not—anguish. ”

“ The possession of the Baltic shores, and of such lands as the Order should conquer from the pagan Prussians and Litwini, was assured to them by Konrad, Duke of Masowsze, brother to Leszek the White of Poland. The fatal error thus committed, in abandoning a hold on the sea-coast, had afterwards a disastrous effect on the history of Poland. The Order speedily made themselves masters of the whole country of Prussia, and were engaged in ceaseless war with the pagans of Lithuania, under pretext of their conversion; more frequently, it is however to be feared, for purposes of raid and plunder. ”

“ I would not change with all earth's habitants,
For tranquil life passed through in weariness.
Thyself didst say to me that common men
Are as those shells deep hidden in the marsh;
Scarce once a year by some tempestuous wave
Cast up, they peep from out the troubled water. ”

“ The Lithuanian nation, formed out of the tribes of the Litwini, Prussians and Leti, not very numerous, settled in an inextensive country, not very fertile, long unknown to Europe, was called, about the thirteenth century, by the incursions of its neighbours, to a more active part When the Prussians submitted to the swords of the Teutonic knights, the Lithuanians, issuing from their forests and marshes, annihilated with sword and fire the neighbouring empires, and soon became terrible in the north. ”

“ Another song; but be it wild and harsh.
Like to the voice of horns, the clash of swords.
And be it gloomy as the cloister walls,
And fiery as a solitary drunkard.
"Of us, who sanctify and murder men.
Let song of murderous tone proclaim the saintship,
And melt our heart, and rouse to rage,—and
⁠weary;
And let it then again affright the weary.
Such is our life, and such our song should be;
Who then will sing it?"
⁠"I," replied an old
And venerable man, who near the door
Sat 'mid the squires and pages, by his robe
Prussian or Litwin. Thick his beard, by age
Whitened ”