Courage
We know what trembles on the scales,
and what we must steel ourselves to face.
The bravest hour strikes on our clocks:
may courage not abandon us!
Let bullets kill us -- we are not afraid,
nor are we bitter, though our housetops fall.
We will serve you, Russian speech,
from servitude in foreign chains,
keep you alive, great Russian word,
fir for the songs of our children's children,
pure on their tongues, and free.
23 February 1942
4 comments:
Wow!
And how timely an exemplar is that?
Thanks, Hecate.
She was so strong. Stalin had imprisoned her son and she waited in line in the heart of Russia's winter waiting and waiting and waiting to see him.
She stoked the courage of Leningrad (St. Petersburg) while the nazis systemically starved the inhabitants of the city because they could not take it over.
She also wrote, "Let no one forget, let nothing be forgotten."
Thank you for bringing her out of the mists, especially now.
Word!
Actually, mariele, it was Olga Berggolts who wrote "Let no one forget, let nothing be forgotten."
Post a Comment