Citizen by Kondrati Ryleyev

In times like these, shall I demean
The noble name of Citizen
And be like you, degenerate and mean,
My dissipated countrymen?
No, not for me, in carnal joys immersed,
In shameful indolence to waste my youthful days
And tolerate a tyrant’s ruthless ways,
The while with scorching grief my heart does burst.
Let youths unmindful of their slavish lot
Refuse to read the omens of the time
And not prepare for battle, fierce and hot,
To champion Freedom’ gainst vile Tyranny and Crime.
Aye, let them, looking coldly at the pain
That fills their fatherland, remain aloof.
Unable to foresee their future shame
And their descendants justified reproof,
They will be sorry when the people, rising,
Will catch them pampering their idle Egos,
And, seeking human rights in bold uprising,
Find in their midst no Brutuses nor Riegoes.

(1824-1825)
Translated by Dorian Rottenberg. Soviet Literature Monthly, No 12 (333), 1975.