Freedom or Death
Ye blood brothers of Sava
The clarion calls:
Lay down lutes and psalteries
And take up your swords!
Tzar Lazar the glorious
Heading the charge:
His breastplate and shield shine
With the holy cross…
Voyvoda Stefan rides at his side,
The mighty king Vukashin,
Goiko and Uglyesha –
Staring proudly into the sun,
Defying the fire, scorning the foe:
Freedom or death is their oath!
Ye sons of the Empire
The sun doth rise black:
Now’s the time to dye hands red
But let your souls be white!
Tzar Lazar has fallen
Under Turkish sword:
Avenge him to the last man –
Freedom or death!
Voyvoda Stefan bleeds by his side,
The mighty king Vukashin.
Goiko and Uglyesha –
Staring proudly into the sun,
Defying the fire, scorning the foe:
Freedom or death is their oath!
Must thou go my noble Tzar?
Would that I were cold with those
That laid their lives in the holy cause
At the feet of the Serbian eagle…
Would that the blade that sealed thy fate
Be lodged ten times into my breast
Than to see our only hope fail…
Our dead call revenge:
Remember Kosovo!
Left alone to brave the night.
We stood for our Homeland,
God and the Tzar –
On the fields where we fell
Now the Amaranths bloom…