The Subritzky Epic

This poem is written using the ancient form of the Tartar oral tradition.

Epics such as these, were recited in a sing-song fashion, around the campfires of old. This epic traces the blood descent of the ancestors of the noble Subritzky family of New Zealand. The Subritzky's are New Zealands first Polish settlers and descendents of the Royal Family of the Golden Horde.

*Subritzky Epic*

Genghis Khan, best of men,
born to rule the world.
He owned a rust-red sword,
fit for ten thousand heads of men.
With his hero's prepared for war,
and took his tough golden bow,
formed and fashioned from
seventy yak horns -
such a golden bow,
smooth and fashioned,
prepared himself for war.
Genghis Khan, best of men,
great hero of the Golden Horde.

Fiedz the Tartar, best of men,
born to serve the Polish King.
Descendent of the Golden Horde,
Descendent of the Genghis Khan,
and victor of a hundred wars.
Fiedz the Tartar, Muslim man,
crossed the Volga for the Polish King,
fighting under the Kondrat Banner,
in the Christian Year of 1495,
ennobled by King John Albert,
and given to bear the Kusza shield.

Misko the Tartar, best of men,
a Muslim Knight of the Polish King,
registered his nobility in 1528,
his sword of fine gold,
with mother-of-pearl pommel,
with torvo-sandelwood grip.
His beautiful war shield,
painted blood red,
with the silver crossbow tanga,
of his nobility painted upon it,
to protect him from the strikes of,
a hundred enemy swords.

Siulaj the Tartar, best of men,
a Muslim knight of the Polish King.
Descendent of the Golden Horde,
resident of Zmudz and Polish Lord.
Harnessed and ridden,
in winter was his horse,
its' neck a hundred fathoms long,
its' rump a days journey broad,
four steel shod hooves flashing fire,
proud descendant of the Royal Family,
of the mighty Genghis Khan.

Obdulla the Zubr, best of men,
Zubr the Buffallo, is his nickname.
Muslim knight for the Polish King,
his Christian children, baptised took his name.
Zubr the Buffalo will always be their name,
proud descendants of the Golden Horde.
Obdulla the Buffalo, best of men,
mighty warrior and Tartar knight,
flashing fire from the hooves of his steed,
and the Kusza shield hung proudly,
above the fireplace of his home.

Abrahim Zubrzycki the Christian, best of men,
a Polish Lord of the Polish King,
lived his days in the province of Minsk,
owner of the beautiful village of Krasne Siolo,
and many peasants his family owned.
His noble feats recorded in 1629,
in the region of Podolia.
He took as his surname Zubrzycki,
and proudly bore the Kusza shield.

Michael Zubrzycki, best of men,
a Polish Lord of the Polish King,
a warrior knight who proudly bore,
a blood red shield with a crossbow on it.
Descendant of the Golden Horde,
descendant of the Ghengis Khan.
Born a Christian in 1659,
and was the Lord of the village of Subocz.
He died in 1699, and now his bones,
lie beneath the village church,
in Subocz in the Lithuanian Duchy.

George Zubrzycki, best of men,
born in the village of Subocz.
Polish Lord and nobleman,
his wife was named Elisabeth.
Village named after ancestor Subotai,
proud owner of land and peasants,
both he and his wife lie beneath,
the floor of the Subocz church.

Isador Zubrzycki, best of men,
Polish Lord and nobleman.
Owner of part of the village of Subocz,
and still living there in 1816.
Beneath the church there lies buried,
five members of this noble family.

Romualdus Zubrzycki, best of men,
Polish Lord and nobleman,
Descendant of the Golden Horde,
and volunteer in Napoleon's war.
Diaspora of the partitions,
and the retreat from Moscow.
Settled in the Kingdom of Hanover,
and married Sophie Elisabeth Korber.
Died in 1833, and buried in the churchyard,
of Saint John in Luneburg.
His widow took three sons and a daughter,
and crossed the seas to New Zealand,
aboard the Saint Pauli in 1843.

Johannes Anton Subritzky, best of men,
Polish Lord and nobleman,
descendant of the Golden Horde.
Builder of the town of Maldon,
master mariner of the sailing ships of old,
and owner of the Greyhound.
Born in the town of Luneburg,
he sailed to New Zealand at age 12,
and took part in the gold rush,
that happened in Victoria.
He married Betsy Hoare,
and they now lie buried in Kaitaia.

Ludolph Anton Subritzky, best of men,
Polish Lord and sea captain.
Master of the schooner Medora,
with his father, brothers and uncles,
he built the town of Awanui.
He married Susannah-Jane Lloydd,
daughter of an American sea captain,
and he lies buried at Saint Josephs church.

Leonard Augustus William Subritzky, best of men,
Polish Lord and nobleman,
descendant of the Golden Horde,
he owned the Awanui general store.
A warrior on a horse once again,
he served with the Mangonui Mounted Rifles.
He married Amelia Dowd,
descended from the Irish Kings.

Leonard Ludolph Thomas Subritzky, best of men,
Polish Lord and nobleman,
Knight of Saint Stanislas,
and soldier during the second great war.
He married Marie-Therese Barr,
and they lie together facing the sea,
at Katikati in the Bay of Plenty.

Michael Raphael Gabriel Subritzky, best of men,
Polish Lord and nobleman.
He saw war in the African sun,
at a place called Rhodesia.
He married Marilyn Williams,
and they had six fine sons.
Knight of Saint Stanislas,
twenty five years a warrior,
he knew the old trade of killing,

Daniel Christopher Leonard Subritzky, best of men,
Polish Lord and nobleman,
descendant of the Golden Horde,
descendant of the Genghis Khan.
A warrior too, he bore a sword,
with the Royal Horse Artillery,
in the Bosnian war.
He married Jeanette Salinas,
and it is for them to continue this noble tradition.
Daniel Subritzky, best of men,
Kusza war shield proudly hung,
upon his fireplace.

David Edward Michael Subritzky, best of men,
born during a time of great war,
the time of the Twin Towers,
and Operation Enduring Freedom.
His father in Israel,
his uncle Benjamin in Iraq,
inhertor of the Kusza war shield,
and the Green Dragon of Annam.

In the very beginning,
when the first world had just taken shape,
when the fire red sun was but a star,
when the first mountain was but a hill,
when the first sandal tree was but a bush,
when the Volga was but a swamp,
when the north wind was but a breeze,
there was a Tartar ancestor,
with a horse of firey hooves,
and fine spurs of flashing silver,
and a sword of magic iron,
fit for ten thousand heads of men.


© Mike Subritzky - The Flak Jacket Collection (Published, Brian Riggir 2001)
© Mike Subritzky - Song of War (Updated and Published, Kiwiana Publishing 2003)