THE VOLUNTEERS AT SHIPKA | Epic of the Forgotten | Ivan Vazov | PROLOGUE | 5K

What if we still carry shame on our forehead,
Marks of the whip, signs of bondage abhorrent;
What if remembrance of infamous days
Hangs like a cloud over all we survey;
What if in history no place we’re allotted,
What if our name be a tragic one; what if
Ancient Belasitsa, recent Batak
Over our past throw their deep shadows black;
What if men mockingly laugh in our faces,
Pointing to newly lost fetters, to traces
Still on our necks of the ages-long yoke;
What if this freedom was given our folk?
What of it? We know a recent true story,
A shining new symbol, a symbol of glory,
That proudly within every bosom pulsates
And noble strong feelings within us awakes;
There on a mountain that glows in the distance,
Heaven’s blue vault on its broad shoulder lifting,
Rises a famous wild peak with bleak rocks
Strewn with white bones and with blood on its moss,
A monument huge to a deed that’s immortal,
Because a deep memory lives in the Balkans,
Because there’s a name that shall live for all time,
As bright as a legend in history it shines,
A new name, its roots to antiquity tracing,
As great as Thermopylae, all fame embracing,
A name to wipe shame away, with its plain truth
Smashing to smithereens calumny’s tooth.
O Shipka!
Director | Plamen Miryanov
Cinematography | Marin Marinov