Sol 5.6

  1. O my nation, how many tears brim in our eyes!

    Do we weep for your two martyrs, or weep for our hopes?

  2. O my nation, if we weep today, forgive us:

    in our helplessness, some tragedies lie beyond our hands.

  3. Alas for the squadron, striding proudly in its stately formation,

    and for the eagles setting out at dawn from their eyries!

  4. They cried, “Fog!”—but the giants paid it no heed,

    for they attain the heights only by sacrificing themselves.

  5. The English Channel marveled at them when they came into view,

    looking out over its bewildered wave-crests.

  6. France received them with her radiant welcome,

    rewarding valor with roses or fragrant basil.

  7. “The eagles!” they cried; the people sprang up and remembered

    an eagle of their own who filled the world with battlefields.

  8. The Seine rang with acclaim when our vanguard appeared—

    a vanguard of glory, sons of our valley.

  9. Safety was at hand; the squadron arrived, and they found missing

    two eagles whom they thought had merely tarried awhile.

  10. But it was death that had held the pair back;

    when glory called, the two had hastened to answer.

  11. Then let whoever wishes weep and fill his eyes to overflowing,

    and let grief lament as much as it wishes, as our mourner.

  12. He mourns his beloved, and she mourns the loss of her only one—

    the one after whom she sees neither worldly life nor faith.

  13. A little while, and then the shedder of tears finds solace;

    tears ward off nothing of the afflictions that assail us.

  14. Whenever calamity strikes, our herald cries:

    “We are your ransom, Egypt; may we never cease to be sacrifices—

  15. for you, Egypt: this star extinguished,

    this eagle burned, this lion pierced.”

Sol 5.6