It's difficult to live, my brother,
among such thick-skulled blunderheads;
the fires of my youth are smothered,
...
A cloud of darkness has appeared
from the mountains and the forest:
does it mean a gentle drizzle
or a terrifying tempest?
...
He lives, still he lives! In the mountain fast,
soaked in blood, he lies and groans,
a rebel, wounded in the chest,
...
In sorrow youth passes, in sorrows and pains,
Angrily boils the blood in the veins;
Lowering brows - the mind cannot see,
...
O you, my Mother, my Native Land,
Why is your cry so sad and heart-rending!
And you, O Raven, accursed bird,
...
Put aside that song of love,
do not fill my heart with pain -
I'm young but I don't know of youth
and if I did I wouldn't claim
...
O my God, my righteous God.
Not you, in heaven apart,
but you, who are within me, God -
...
'Rejoice, o people! Old and young
Praise God today, and praise the king!
'Tis Saint George's Day,' the sheep gave tongue
...
Was it you, mother, with your tearful song,
was it you who cursed me three years' long
to be a luckless, drifting waif
...
Hurry, stranger, quickly come
to your father's home at last,
do a dance before his home,
...
In the glade a pipe is played,
By the forest green and still,
Where Stoyana, fair, sweet maid,
Runs for water to the rill.
...
Our feelings have made of us brothers
and our hidden thoughts have a same set,
I do not believe there's one thing
...
Hristo Botev (Bulgarian: Христо Ботев, also transliterated as Hristo Botyov) , born Hristo Botyov Petkov , was a Bulgarian poet and national revolutionary. Botev is widely considered by Bulgarians to be a symbolic historical figure and national hero.)
To My Brother
It's difficult to live, my brother,
among such thick-skulled blunderheads;
the fires of my youth are smothered,
my heart is torn to bitter shreds.
I love the land where I was born
and I protect its ancient wealth,
yet when I show these oafs my scorn
I bring destruction to myself.
Dreams of darkness, thoughts of storm,
have nailed my young soul to the cross.
O, who will place a friendly hand
upon my heart in its distress?
No one, no one. Freedom, joy
neither does it recognize;
yet it passionately joins
its answer to a people's cries.
Brother, I shed tears in secret
where anguished people are interred;
but, tell me, what should I respect
upon this dead, insidious earth?
Nothing, nothing. To a frank
and upright voice there's no reply,
and your soul, too, does not react
to the voice of God - a people's cry.