Death & Dying
A True Warrior Must Lose His Life
Translated by Alexander Chodzko (1842) · From Specimens of the Popular Poetry of Persia (1842)
A true warrior must lose his life on the field of battle. The guns and the carbines thunder for him the death-song. O death! whom didst thou spare? The most cunning of all men, Babai-Amir, once run from thee, and endeavoured to escape. Didst thou not catch him, jumping upon him from an ambush? The heart of Kurroglou the ram fears thee not, provided his vows may be agreeable to God. Were even Hassan and Hussein, these footstools of the throne of God, on the seventh heaven (Ersh) spared by thee? No! thou hast made them martyrs at Kerbella.
This translation is printed as prose in its source edition.
Codex Note
A song on the death of warriors on the battlefield, which asks whether even Hassan and Hussein would have been spared by death.
Cite this poem
MLA
Köroğlu. “A True Warrior Must Lose His Life.” Translated by Alexander Chodzko. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/koroglu/24/.
Chicago
Köroğlu. “A True Warrior Must Lose His Life.” Translated by Alexander Chodzko. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/koroglu/24/.
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