Page:Bohemian legends and other poems.djvu/27

 And those who went to death said, “Have no care;
 * God’s holy angels will be sent to show

Your souls the way to God, and we shall wear
 * The wedding garments ere the sun be low.”

The first to die, had been a mighty lord,
 * Joachim Andreas Šlik, count of Bazan.

Ah, me! ah, me! that fearless soul had soared
 * With love of country, and the Count Pason,

As patriot and heretic, must die—
 * And his brave hands be nailed up as a sign,

That henceforth none should ever question why
 * Their ruler’s voice came from across the Rhine.

He gazed upon the shining sun and said,
 * “Leave me in peace” (to Jesuit priests that came

To torture his brave soul before it fled),
 * “The Sun of Righteousness shall rise the same,

In God’s good time, to scatter from our land
 * The shadows of this world. We will be free.”

And then he knelt upon the wooden stand
 * And prayed to God that every one could see.

And it is said a radiance not its own
 * Shone in his face, as there he knelt to pray;

And from the scaffold, to a golden throne,
 * The count of Pason passed this summer day.

The next to die had walked in learning’s ways
 * Václav Budoec, well-known throughout the world

For learned books, that sought from out the maze
 * Of darkness still God’s banner to unfurl.

’Twas he who said with voice that knew no fear,
 * “I’d rather die than see my country die;

And ye have longed so for our butchery here,
 * I fain would satisfy you—see me die.”

To which the monks replied, “We fain would show
 * An erring soul the way to Heaven’s gate.”

Then smilingly he told them, “Is that so?”
 * Then quickly answer ere it be too late.

With many questions from the Holy Word,
 * He plied their ears, unwilling of the truth,

And when they could not answer, “I have heard
 * That ye be asses, now I know ’tis true.”

When called to die he said, “Oh, my white hair,
 * What honor hath God had in store for thee?