Poglavnik: "For Homeland!"
All Croats: "Ready!"
In the Basilica of Saint Peter,
The poet saw Thee in the eternal city,
His embrace with Thee was as dear to him,
As our dear Homeland.
The Good, Mighty God Himself followeth Thee,
That Thou wouldst perform a holy work for our Homeland,
Inspired by Ante Starčević,
An example to Thee.
Ye both are our Croatian exemplars,
Ye protect the holy rights of our forefathers,
While the sun shineth, ye both are our crown,
Eternal glory to you!
Thou hast for Thine homeland sacrificed Thy whole self,
Boldly as a hero, a live hero of faith,
For freedom Thou hast made our homeland rise up,
O glorious Ustasha!
A good genius, thou art deep as a mystic,
In vain the wolves howl from all sides,
Thou art a prophet, up and down Thou criest,
"God and Croats!"
"Only God is our highest Lord,
God is our shield, in Him is Resurrection",
And with those words, Thou hast went to encounter
the Easter morn!
A man, of mind and heart and fairness,
A man, who ruleth not, but worketh,
A man, who hath never knelt down,
Our Leonidas!
Thine every day is a sacrifice and a fair harvest,
As the sun Thou art pure and brilliant,
And thine influence toppleth all the pygmies,
Thou art our Zrinski!
Thou sayest much, truth, thou upliftest justice,
And freedom to Thee is as dear as mother,
For her Thou hast risen up as a Giant,
Onto all the brigands!
And onto all the evildoers, [to whom 'twas all vapor,]
Who sought to sell our souls,
Who knit a rope for our name,
Miserable traitors.
For the dear Homeland Thou hast called the Croats,
Be ye ready, be ye as a steadfast rock,
Then will upon our Homeland shine God's flame,
Of Croatian glory.
And equally as the sun Thou warmest us,
[Thou leadest Zagreb, us, Royal Croatian,]
Thou leadest Bosnia, she is, as Thou sayest, the pearl, the heart,
Of the Croatian crown.
Day and night Thou workest for the people,
Every single Croat is dear to Thee,
He warmeth himself on Thine heart, as on the sun,
An Ustasha hero.
From Thine heart a sigh flyeth to the sky,
"O Holy God, protect our beautiful Homeland",
She is perpetually Thy first concern,
For Her Thou prayest.
That is why Thou callest all of us into a magnificent circle,
A circle of labour, progress and fairness,
In Thy circle our dear Croatia
Alive will be.
What hast Thou not undertaken for that movement?
All the brigands prowled after Thy soul,
As king David, Thou goest into a foreign world,
But God protecteth Thee!
God gave Thee strength in foreign lands,
God crowneth Thy faith with a laurel branch,
Which shall never again wither away,
O hero of joy!
Our flag now beneath the sky fluttereth,
Our eye tears of joy weepeth,
[Thy face adorneth
The city and the village.]
So, move our hearts as before!
Lift up our souls to God's sky!
Thee, o Leader, the Croatian people
Needeth as bread.
And we shall always be ready for the Homeland,
Always ready to labour and to die for the Homeland,
Always with God, [zeal] and diligence for the Homeland,
For our Homeland dear!
Ante Pavelić is a name to us dear,
Croatia hath in it a treasure from above,
May He, the King of Heaven, follow Thee always,
Our golden leader!
For Christmas, 1941
Archbishop Ivan 'Evanđelista' Šarić
Webmaster's note: the reason for why I put some stanzas and words in square brackets is to indicate parts which I had a hard time translating completely accurately. Croatian and English are VERY different languages, so I hope you can look past it if some parts aren't 100% word-for-word accurate to the original.