Boże, coś Polskę

Boże, coś Polskę is a Polish patriotic hymn. When Poland regained independence in 1918, the hymn competed unsuccessfully with "Poland Is Not Yet Lost" ("Mazurek Dąbrowskiego") to become Poland's national anthem.

Due to its invocation of God, the hymn's title has often been rendered in English as God Save Poland, by analogy with Britain's "God Save the King".

The Polish hymn opens: "Boże! Coś Polskę przez tak liczne wieki / Otaczał blaskiem potęgi i chwały..." ("Lord, Who for ages favored Poland with might and glory...").

The original text, by Alojzy Feliński, was published in Gazeta Warszawska on 20 July 1816, in homage to the King of Congress Poland, Russian Czar Alexander I, and from 1818 was known by the title "Pieśń narodowa za pomyślność króla". This caused much controversy, and the following year the refrain's last line was unofficially sung as "Naszą ojczyznę racz nam wrócić, Panie" ("Return our homeland, O Lord") instead of "Naszego króla zachowaj nam Panie!" ("God save our King!").

February 1817 saw the publication of a "Hymn do Boga o zachowanie wolności" (incipit: "O Ty! którego potężna prawica..."), by Antoni Gorecki. From it, two stanzas were incorporated into "Boże, coś Polskę".

The initial melody, by Captain Jan Nepomucen Kraszewski of the 4th Infantry Regiment, was soon forgotten, replaced by well-known church anthems: first "Bądź pozdrowiona Panienko Maryjo" ("Hail, Virgin Mary") and later "Serdeczna Matko" ("Beloved Mother").

In 1862 the hymn, long since become an expression of opposition to the occupying Russian Empire, was banned in Poland's Russian partition. It was widely sung by the insurgents of the 1863 Uprising, earning the nickname of "La Marseillaise of 1863". In the 20th century, "Boże, coś Polskę" was sung during the Nazi occupation of Poland and during the 1980s martial law in Poland.