О, Шипка [O, Shipka] [English translation]

O Shipka!*

For three days out youthful battalions

The pass have defended. The high mountain valleys re-echo the battle's tumultuous roar.

The onslaught's ferocious! Again the dense hordes

Along the ravine for the twelfth time are crawling

Where warm blood is flowing and bodies are sprawling.

A hail of fresh bullets and tree trunks and boulders;

Spattered with blood, our battalions boldly

Retaliate, every man in his own way

Striving to be in the front of the fray,

Each, like a hero, death bravely defying,

Determined to leave one more enemy dying.

A last effort's needed: the moment is grave.

And then does Stoletov, our general brave,

Roar words of great courage: "Young volunteer fighters,

Now crown Bulgaria with laurels of triumph!

The Tsar has entrusted the pass, the whole war,

Himself even, unto these muscles, of yours!"

Thus heartened, our proud and heroic battalions

Courageously meet the next thrust of the rallying

They're all to a man ready gladly to die

On the ridge which the whole of the world can descry,

To die here like heroes triumphant, victorious .

"The whole of Bulgaria is watching us now!"

And today, every time there's a storm in the mountain,

The summit recall this grim day and, recounting

The story, its echoing glory relays

From valley to valley, from age unto age!