[Aknevelman]

First lines of a poem of Denis Vasilyevich Davydov (1784 —1839). He was a Russian soldier-poet of the Napoleonic Wars who invented a specific genre — hussar poetry noted for its hedonism and bravado — and spectacularly designed his own life to illustrate such poetry.

Я люблю кровавый бой,
Я рожден для службы царской!
Сабля, водка, конь гусарской,
С вами век мне золотой!
Я люблю кровавый бой,
Я рожден для службы царской!


I love the bloody battle
I was born to the royal service!
Saber, vodka, horse hussar,
With you the golden age of me!
I love the bloody battle
I was born to the royal service!