La Marseillaise The Star Spangled Banner
Arise children of our fatherland, O, say can you see by the dawn's early light
[For] the day of glory has arrived! What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Against us, tyranny, Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight,
Has raised its bloody flag, (1) O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
Do you hear in the fields And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
The howling of these fearsome soldiers? Gave proof thru the night that our flag was still there.
They are coming into your midst (2) Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
To slit the throats of your sons and wives! O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
Chorus
To arms, citizens!
Form your battalions!
Let us march, let us march!
Let impure blood (of our enemies)
Soak the furrows (of our fields)
What does this horde of slaves want, On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Of traitors and conspiratorial kings? Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
For whom these vile chains What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
These long-prepared irons? As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Frenchmen, for us, ah! What outrage Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
What methods must be taken? In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:
It is us they dare plan 'Tis the star-spangled banner! Oh long may it wave
To return to the old slavery! O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
Chorus
What! These foreign cohorts! And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
They would make laws in our courts! That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,
What! These mercenary phalanxes A home and a country should leave us no more!
Would cut down our warrior sons Their blood has washed out of their foul footsteps' pollution.
Good Lord! By chained hands No refuge could save the hireling and slave,
Our brow would yield under the yoke From the terror of flight and the gloom of the grave:
The vile despots would have themselves be And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
The masters of destiny O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
Chorus
Tremble, tyrants and traitors Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
The shame of all good men Between their loved home and the war's desolation!
Tremble! Your parricidal schemes Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
Will receive their just reward Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Against you we are all soldiers Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
If they fall, our young heroes And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
Ready to join the fight against you O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
Chorus
Frenchmen, as magnanimous warriors
Bear or hold back your blows
Spare these sad victims
That they regret taking up arms against us
But not these bloody despots
These accomplices of Bouillé
All these tigers who mercilessly
Ripped out their mothers' wombs
Chorus
Sacred patriotic love
Lead [and] support our avenging arms
Fight [back] with your defenders
Under our flags, let victory
Hurry to your manly tone
So that your enemies, in their last breath [before death]
See your triumph and our glory!
Chorus
We shall enter the [military] career
When our elders will no longer be there
There we shall find their ashes [lit. dust]
And the mark of their virtues
[We are] Much less jealous of surviving them
Than of sharing their coffins
[For] We shall have the sublime pride
Of avenging or joining [lit. following] them
Chorus