Could not break the mountain shields;
The slave-rowed greedy fleets of Venice
Could not buy Albania's fields.
The eagle's claws have felt no chains,
No tyrant cloud overcast its sky;
Fear never chilled its burning veins,
Nor caused a tremor in its stony eye.
It rose with glory in its beak -
Blazing like the dragon's breath
That tamed the highest snow-chilled peak -
Feared dishonour more than death.
From the poem The Flame of Albania
by Naim Frasheri
