The Poet's Statue in Ljublijana and his words for a toast from Slovenia

 

Statue of poet Frances Preserenin the square named after him in Ljublijana, capital of Slovenia. Photo from Wikipedia.

I was looking for a visual of a statue of  somebody in each of the similar sounding capitals, of Sovenia, Slovakia and Serbia. 

In Slovenie I found that statue of the poet Frances Preseren with his poetry book in his hand. He statue is in the square named after him.

I hunted for a brief quotation. I found a longer poem, and two verses. I have adapted a translation and highlighted a possible quotation.

First

may good fortune bless all nations,
Who long and work for that bright day,
When on all earth's habitations
No war, nor strife shall hold its sway;
Who long to see
All men are free
Forget foes, fears and tears,,act neighbourly .

Second

 to our reunion -
To us, let's toast! Let cheers resound,
In our joyful gathering
Let shared thoughts of friendship be found.
May happy cheer
Never disappear
From good hearts of good friends gathered here.

I searched in Google for Wikiquote for an out of copyright translation. Instead I found a translation of one of the poet's poems. I adapted it. How?

1 I have removed the word God to include the atheists and agnostics. It also sounds more like a jolly toast for a celebration and less like a patriotic prayer for army cadets.

2 I have updated the old fashioned language  and abbreviations such as o'er. 

3 I changed sentence constructions,such as sentences ending in the verb be which are not modern English, which is hard to say and not easily recognixed by foreign readers.

How else could you translate good bless? One UK atheist told me he had no problem with using God bless. 

Alternatives could be, I bless (from the reader, the most snior person in the room), ancestors bless, our fathers bless, may fortune bless, goodness bless, may the stars bless, may the sun bless, sunshine bless, 

The first of these two verses is the Slovenian national anthem, of course in the original Slovenian.

Useful Websites

poemhunter.com

wikiquote

wikivoyage Slovenia

Wikivoyage Ljulijana