Bohemian legends and other poems/Invitation to Song

by Boleslav Jablonský

INVITATION TO SONG.

 

Oh, let us sing songs full of love,
Bohemian national songs of love;
For as long as Bohemians sing,
Their national life cannot take wing.
Go wander all over our land,
Over valley and wood-crowned hill,
There’s not a place without a band,
Or song, like a mountain rill.

The Bohemian lion loved song—
Songs he sang against every wrong;
And when for his country he fought,
It was also with song that he taught.
Even the castle Vyšehrad
Shook when Záboj the minstrel sang,
Like Orfej, upon the green sod,
War songs that like clear trumpets rang.
For this reason Bohemians should sing,
That their national life n’er take wing.