THE HANGING OF VASIL LEVSKI

O my Mother, dear Motherland

Why weep you so mournfully, so plaintively?

And you, raven, cursed bird –

On whose grave croak you with such a dread?

Ah, I know – I know you’re weeping, Mother

Because you are a dismal slave,

Because your holy voice, Mother

Is a helpless voice – a voice in the wilderness.

Weep! There, near the edge of Sofia town

Stretches – I saw it – a dismal gallows

And one of your sons, Bulgaria

Hangs from it with a terrible power.

The raven croaks dreadfully, ominously

Dogs and wolves howl in the fields,

Old people pray to God with fervour

Women weep, children, cry.

Winter croons its evil song,

Gales sweep thistle across the field

And cold and frost and hopeless weeping

Heep sorrow on your heart.

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Levski’s beliefs are applicable even today. They are:

• Look after the national affairs more than anything else, respect them more than yourself.
• To be equal to the other European nations depends on our own united strength.
• If I win – the entire nation wins; if I lose – I lose only myself.
• What more can I want when I see my homeland free? My predestination is for my homeland, is it not? Not to see myself in a high rank, but to die…