Nachts weinen die Soldaten [English translation]

A cross in the snow -

A soldier’s grave.

I wonder who you might have been?

Did you brag about your heroic deeds?

Were you in love and who missed you?

Your white cross doesn’t even mention your name.

Somebody painted ‘1916’ on it.

Neither God, nor prayer or ‘Amen’ helped you.

You settled an unknown account with blood.

Were you still young, probably already a father?

Did you know that, did you ever see your child?

The soldiers weep at night.

Unutterable tears on their faces.

The soldiers weep at night.

Just numbers of no consequence.

It’s a pity your White Cross does not stand alone

There are millions more where it stands now,

Nothing’s left of the soldiers save for bones

This Sea of the Dead is what’s left of the Great War

Tell me quite softly, how did it end?

Did you get hit in your heart by a well-aimed shot?

The soldiers weep at night.

Unutterable tears on their faces.

The soldiers weep at night.

Just numbers of no consequence.

Tell me why.

What drew you to the massacres?

Insincere loyalty, in view of the Fatherland?

Were they friends who induced you to it?

Tell me, soldier, when your hope crumbled.

The soldiers weep at night.

Unutterable tears on their faces.

The soldiers weep at night.

Just numbers of no consequence.

And so I’m standing here, alone with the dead

Wishing the world had learned.

Spring delivers its first harbingers,

But I have lost the hang of hoping.

• Artist:Saltatio Mortis
• Album:Zirkus Zeitgeist