Eager for conquests and glory, the
Emperor did not hear the cries of his people.
In spite of the valor of the women who have seized the spade
And who direct the plow,
The brambles invade the fields.
Everywhere, war!
Everywhere the carnage!
The life of a man counts no more than that of a dog.
In front of the old men themselves, the
soldiers dare to say what they think.
"Never a truce," they murmur, "
Never of tranquility!
Tomorrow the collectors will come to collect the tax,
And we have nothing!
We have come to hold out for a calamity
The birth of a son,
for we know that he will be killed in the prime of life
And that he will go to disintegrate among the One hundred plants. "
On the shores of the azure sea,
so you've never seen, Prince,
The bones of thousands of brave unburied?
In the east wind,
have you never heard the complaints
of their inconsolable manes?
