The exhaustion of prison is taking its toll.
All the days and the nights arc anguish.
Every hope, every passion that stirred my soul
My confinement strives to extinguish.
My vitality by the stone cell has been sapped.
In its place have come sickness and sorrow.
When I try the door I see I am trapped,
There are heavy bars on the window.
Torture follows on torture without reprieve,
Every morning I face the gallows.
All the solace I have is in heavy sleep,
I live solely by chasing rainbows.
See, again in the dawn, a brilliant beam
Through the steel of the bars has speared,
And it seems to me she is here, yes it seems
That the joy of my life has appeared.
She smiles tenderly, kisses me as in days past
My true love did in kerchief of crimson,
She inclines towards me and my hand she clasps.
Leading me to a fête of freedom.
And she whispers: “You were wrong not to wait,
You must crave for joy every moment,
I have come to shed light and to liberate,
To arise as your dawn refulgent!...”
Oh my dream, you never fail to elate,
You’ve stayed staunchly by me to this second.
I could never have managed alone in those straits
If it were not for such a godsend!
I've not long left to live in the world I know,
But my fondest dream will come true.
The bright dawn of victory will rise to bestow
Life and happiness on my country.
October 1943