D'you see those ruins on the hill top?
There your foe hides like a rat!
You must, you must, you must
Grab his neck and cast him from the clouds!
And they went, heedless of danger
And they went, to kill and avenge
And they went stubborn as ever,
As always - for honour - to fight.
Red poppies on Monte Cassino
Instead of dew, drank Polish blood.
As the soldier crushed them in falling,
For the anger was more potent than death.
Years will pass and ages will roll,
But traces of bygone days will stay,
And the poppies on Monte Cassino
Will be redder having quaffed Polish blood.
They charged through fire like madmen,
Countless were hit and fell,
Like the cavalry at Samosierra,
Like the men at Rokitno years ago.
They attacked with fury and fire,
And they got there. They climbed to the top,
And their white and scarlet standard
They placed on the ruins 'midst clouds.
Red poppies on Monte Cassino
Instead of dew, drank Polish blood.
As the soldier crushed them in falling,
For the anger was more potent than death.
Years will pass and ages will roll,
But traces of bygone days will stay,
And the poppies on Monte Cassino
Will be redder having quaffed Polish blood.
D'you see this row of white crosses?
Polish soldiers did honour there wed.
The further you go, the higher,
The more of such crosses you'll meet.
This soil was won for Poland,
Though Poland is far away,
For Freedom is measured in crosses
When history from justice does stray.
Red poppies on Monte Cassino
Instead of dew, drank Polish blood.
As the soldier crushed them in falling,
For the anger was more potent than death.
Years will pass and ages will roll,
But traces of bygone days will stay,
And the poppies on Monte Cassino
Will be redder having quaffed Polish blood.
- translation of {feliks konarski} lyrics
what is this poem about?
ReplyDeleteisnt' monte cassino
where st benedicts monastery was
in italy?
did polish soldiers fight there
in WWII?
my previous comment was rejected
ReplyDeletei guess i don't have permission
to post on this blog
ah well
but to the best of my knowledge
there were quite a number of loose polish soldiers who continued to fight
even after poland fell
and they headed for italy when word
got out that rome was threatend by hitler
and they fought
monte cassino was reduced to rubble
by american bombers
but
was rebuilt virtually stone for stone
with american funding
i guess i should be grateful
( - ) ( O )
>
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V
double chinned blinker
oops
ReplyDeletei guess i have to account
for line references
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Red_Poppies_on_Monte_Cassino
ReplyDeletethanks !
ReplyDelete