MY RED AND WHITE FLAG
(“Friday Songs”)
Our waving flag of red with its neighboring field of white
Whipping against its staff with a sweeping, unchecked might;
One moment madly flying, its wings are reaching far,
Then in a flash it shivers, and huddles against its bar.
Two colors flashing by in an everchanging race,
Until we hardly dare these colors to embrace.
Look! Look! There in the height sweeps a blotch of crimson hue
And in its reddish wake, sputters a white churned foam;
A sweeping gust of wind brings another phase in view,
A drift of fallen snow, topped with a bloody dome.
Now it appears as if a white-winged dove flew by
To be swallowed by the flames, whose hungry tongues reach high.
New thoughts arise and die; while I, with bated breath,
Gaze at the color of life blend with the color of death.
Two gayly flowered goblets I raise high to the light,
In one a wine of red; in one a wine of white.
These colors, these two lights, may they ever keep aflame,
To lead us through peace and battles to a pinnacle of fame.
If humanity should waver like a mighty heaving sea,
Then like the ocean coral, the peaceful Czechs should be.
And if humanity, like an Alpine range, should soar,
The Czechs should be a Mont Blanc, and rise for evermore.
And if humanity should seem like skies aglow with stars,
Then let the Czechs be known as the flaming, mighty Mars.
Fly high, you joyous flag of streaming crimson red,
And like the Spartans once, swarmed in their garb of war,
So let the Czechs stand firm with swords besmeared with gore.
You lead us on, go forth, smite our enemies’ bared head.
Fly high, you waving flag of spotless milky white,
Our forefathers’ proud eagle who rules the airy height.
And let the flowers bloom beneath your waving hand
For this nation is as just as the Gods upon their stand.
Destiny, give us struggles, for our heroes true to bear,
But then let the morning follow, sparkingly fresh and fair,
And let the sun leap forth and flood the Czech’s domain.
Let there come days of peace and roses bloom again.
This work is a translation and has a separate copyright status to the applicable copyright protections of the original content.
| Original: |
This work was published before January 1, 1929, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.
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| Translation: |
This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published in 1896, before the cutoff of January 1, 1929. The longest-living author of this work died in 1987, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 36 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 |
