When Botev Peaked

Cherry

By Turlough

Fri, 05 Dec 2025
  • 807 reads
13 comments
 

 

When Botev Peaked

 

She would have liked me

To buy you wine

Or call on you at least

But are you never in?

I’d overheard her tears

 

Missing the tram to work

We quarrelled with a name

Of someone who once raged

Go brave grandfather!

Know your papa didn’t know you

A man who feared home

Too pained to try even riding by

But laughed at the mountain’s name

And mistakes he’d paid for

 

On wounded walls around a square

Pictures of mothers’ splintered children

A village weeping

Sees heroes pass and return

To smite, to sullow

Those patsies sent to croak

With their bloodied geese limbs

 

On Andreevden without you

Water flowed quietly

Beneath the ice

I drank the wine alone

Watched boiled grains swell

So your crops might be abundant

When the bear pulls the plough again

 

Image:

The old Kivgir Bridge in Tryavna on a cold Andreevden some years back. My own photograph.

 

 

Certificate 12
Poem
Poetry in Commotion
Love
Inspiration Point (work that responds to our weekly writing cue)

Comments

Submitted by skinner_jennifer on

I had to look up Hristo Botev, as I knew nothing about this man. I discovered he was a poet who was in exile for a good part of his life because of his beliefs in dignity and freedom. He wrote poems of the mountains, rivers and fields and there's even a mountain named after him.

That third stanza really stood out for me:

On wounded walls around a square

Pictures of mothers' splintered children

A village weeping

Sees heroes pass and return

To smite, to sullow

Those patsies sent to croak

With their blooded geese limbs

Such powerful words that sum up how Botev must have seen it.

It's important to remember these couragous people who were revolutionary with pen rather than weapons.

Thank you for teaching me something new through your poem Turlough.

Jenny. 

 

 

Submitted by airyfairy on

I had to look this gentleman up as well, so thank you for introducing me to someone new! It's a great, thoughtful poem, Turlough. I'll be back for lots more reads.

Submitted by Turlough on

Dear Jenny and Airy, thank you very much for reading my poem and posting comments. Here’s a bit of the detail that lies behind my words.

As a poet and a revolutionary in the war for freedom from the Ottoman Yoke, Hristo Botev is an absolute legend in Bulgaria. He had already written beautiful poetry when he was recruited to command a company in the Bulgarian liberation army but instead of directing his men from a distance he got stuck in and as a consequence he was killed in active service at the age of 28. Although a hero, he was criticised as events might have taken a different and more rapid course if he had lived a bit longer to share his wisdom.

On 2 June each year (the day after the anniversary of his death) air-raid sirens are sounded in every Bulgarian town and city for two minutes during which everything comes to a standstill. Traffic stops in the street and people get out of their vehicles and stand to attention as a mark of respect. Those who don’t are told off by those who do. Military parades culminate with the laying of wreaths at war memorials or memorials dedicated to Botev. It’s one of the most emotional and surreal things I’ve ever seen and seeing the pride that Bulgarians have in this man always brings a lump to my throat.

Also, Botev Peak, the highest mountain standing at 2,376 metres (7,795 ft) above sea level in the Balkan Range is named after him. It previously had an Ottoman name which had to be changed following independence. However, it’s not the highest mountain in Bulgaria. And there aren’t many places here that don’t have a street, school or theatre named after him, and most places have a statue too.

I cannot describe how pleased I am that you find this man interesting. Bulgaria has many wonderful poets both living and dead and it was reading their work that inspired me to write my poem. Something that you might not know is the significance of Andreevden which is St Andrew’s Day on 30th November. On that day it’s believed that what lies beneath the ground starts to come back to life so villagers boil corn, beans and lentils to encourage their fields to be fertile and bountiful. Also, if the water in streams flows quietly beneath the ice it suggests that the winter won’t be too harsh. It’s also sometimes known as Bear Day (Mechkinden) because apparently St. Andrew tamed a bear and got it to pull his plough after he had killed and cooked his ox to feed the poor.

I love this big pot of combined customs, traditions, folklore, legend and religion that we have in Bulgaria, as well as its heroes.

Turlough

Submitted by skinner_jennifer on

Your explaination was appreciated Turlough.

Thank you.

Jenny. smiley

 

Submitted by celticman on

ah, wisdom, it comes in many guises. Bears pulling ploughs. Botev may have peaked, but he's not in the past. 

 

Submitted by Turlough on

I forgot to mention that Bulgarian football teams are often named after national heroes. In our top league there's Botev Vratsa and Botev Plovdiv,  plus Levski Sofia (named after Vasil Levski, the Apostle of Freedom) who are currently top of the league.

It's a bit like Leeds United being called William Wordsworth instead of Leeds United.

Turlough

Submitted by celticman on

Or Celtic being called Celtic because they stole all Hibernian's players when starting out. Both being a form of green otherness. 

 

Submitted by Turlough on

Exactly! Or Rangers being called the Krankies.

Turlough

Submitted by Di_Hard on

I looked up his poems, so much energy, certainty!
'The fool is honoured everywhere,
"He's rich" they say, and do not care'
I don't remember celebrating any of England's great writers the way Burns is, here. It's brilliant that children learn about him at primary school. And having Botev's words in their memories, no wonder Bulgarian young people would protest against corrupt government! And both poets celebrated on St Andrew's :0)

"I’d overheard her tears" I don't know if you meant it so, but this made me think of being an immigrant to the place you call home, whose history is not your own. I loved how you by the end of your poem you were embracing the customs, becoming part of the land you both love

 

Submitted by Turlough on

Thank you Di for looking at this so closely.

The first part is about the relationship Bulgaria has with North Macedonia, two countries that speak almost the same language and have historic territorial claims on each other’s land.

The second part is about Botev’s time when gaining independence from the Turks was more important than anything else.

Part three is more to do with fighting the fascists in the twentieth century. ‘Bloodied geese limbs’ is my reference to their goosestep march through places where they had spilt so much blood. Before World War Two Bulgaria was already teetering on fascism and consequently sided with Hitler to avoid being invaded. The arrival of the Russians in 1944 was initially seen as liberation until reality struck.

And the last bit is about Bulgarian tradition. I started writing the poem on 30th November so I did the last verse first. The bear pulling the plough is a nod to the traditions of the day but also to the possibility that in the future Bulgaria might fall once again to Russian domination.

But the general approach was that I had read Bulgarian poets’ work and I was trying to write a few lines a bit like theirs. I would never admit this to Bulgarian people though as they are so proud of their literature and I’m a mere immigrant. However, by constantly pestering a Bulgarian friend I have got her to read and appreciate William Butler Yeats’s stuff. I think she might find Robbie Burns a bit of a challenge though.

Turlough

Submitted by Di_Hard on

Thank YOU for replying, so widely!

ps. Do you have bears still wild, in Bulgaria?

 

Submitted by Turlough on

We do indeed have bears living wild in the mountain regions. And wolves.

Turlough

Submitted by Di_Hard on

wow :0)