1. We bear the Russians no ill will, yet we do not love them,
For ours is a war of peers against peers.

2. Nor are the French truly hostile to us,
But they are not comrades or brothers.

3. We engage with them blow for blow,
Stab for stab, fire for fire.

4. Our proud banners wave among the regiments,
And our victorious army on every battlefield.

5. Our hearts contain naught but the glowing embers
Of elders and the live coals of youth alike.

6. As a mass beyond count we share one passion,
And so we are martyred as one, as men.

7. Our sole enemy, whom all recognize,
Is that envious wicked schemer who does ill.

8. Against him surging breakers are our haven
Of refuge, massive as the barren, scorching dunes.

9. I see him taking cover amid the deluge,
A flood of wrath concealed behind a flood.

10. The water now preserves and protects him -
Woe to the water because of us, for it has sided with the foe!

11. Stand, all of you, before the seat of justice
And solemnly swear a harsh unbending oath,

12. Rigid as steel, inexorable as death,
To endure for ages and aeons of time:

13. That we will harbor a hatred that does not wane,
Immeasurable, beyond reckoning,

14. That we will voice it everywhere,
Repeat it like a refrain,

15. And teach it to every heart and mind
To hate these people both secretly and openly,

16. A hatred handed down to our descendants
And from one generation to the next.

17. Our sole enemy, whom all recognize,
Is that envious wicked schemer who does ill.

18. Hark, O Germans, and understand,
For you are people of intellect and wisdom:

19. Your commanders all convened as one,
Bound fast like well-knotted rope or mortared brick.

20. One of them rose, a cup held in his hand,
As though it were a torch or a wrathful eye.

21. He spoke: "O people, this is the secret of your day.
Come, drink! for the secret of the day is two secrets."

22. His utterance, spoken to the assembly, had its effect,
And they became as though they were one man, not two.

23. No striking sword, no leaping spark of flame,
No speeding ship, no shooting star, no diving lightning bolt,

24. Is swifter or more forceful than it,
Emerging from his mouth like an arrow from the quiver.

25. It illuminated whoever was in the cup that was raised on high
By that speaker who intended and meant it.

26. O children of Britain, rally your masses
And summon mankind, human or jinn!

27. Build your fortresses and ramparts with gold
And hire armies of whites and blacks!

28. Patrol your fleets in the sea lying in wait for us,
Churning the waves and tracking the whales!

29. By God! None of this will hinder or turn back
A hand once outstretched in anger to smash and demolish.

30. We bear the Russians no ill will, yet we do not love them,
For ours is a war of peers against peers.

31. Nor are the French truly hostile to us,
But they are not comrades or brothers.

32. We engage with them blow for blow,
Stab for stab, fire for fire.

33. We attack and are attacked, with hatred ever present
And every vicious, deadly, piercing weapon.

34. But what tomorrow will bring is peace
Veiling this tumult, covering them with forgetfulness.

35. Every hatred will be erased but hatred of you,
For it is safe from diminution.

36. The hearts' loathing of you will never fade, even if
We and you should pass away and the transient world should vanish.

37. Your remoteness on earth and the distance of the stars in heaven
Are alike, and so is hatred in free and bound souls.

38. The cottage hates you, and the palace hates you,
And every heart and mind among us.

39. As a mass beyond count we share one passion,
And so we are martyred as one, as men.

40. Our sole enemy, whom all recognize,
Is that envious wicked schemer who does ill.