La Cançó Del Soldadet

Listen to the little soldier's song
who through a bull's eye
sees some scythes flying!
And the little soldier doesn't understand much,
but if the scythes are flying,
it must mean that the land is nearby.
And it must be so close that the captain comes down
and tries not to look nervous
while finishing the instruction:
"Concentrate, soldiers, be cautious
and cling to life
with nails and teeth."
Already on deck, the men pray.
Already on deck, the men pray.
And the little soldier says a half-hearted amen,
and caresses his rifle,
trying not to think of anything.
From the bow, the hills are getting bigger,
"soldier, courage, courage,
because the fate of the world depends on people like you."
But "if an enemy bullet crosses the wind
and pierces my brain,"
the little soldier wonders,
"the waves will drag me
and a thousand colorful fish
will fight to devour my flesh."
And he thinks "I'll hide;
when they're not looking, I'll hide."
But they always look, and the ship is stopping,
the hatches have opened
and, in a second, the sea is flooded
with soldiers shooting into infinity
with a little soldier in the middle,
loading while insulting the enemy.
And between bombs, everything goes well for him
until one falls right beside.
At first he says "luck, how did it go for you…",
but then he feels a strange pain in his back
and when he touches it, his whole arm is stained with blood.
He turns his head from side to side.
He sits on the sand and rests.
And as the damn medic arrives, the little soldier
calms down by repeating
what he will do, where he will go, if he survives:
"I will go to my mother well dressed
and, before anything, I will have to tell her
to forgive me for always treating her like this;
I will go to Margarida to have a child with her
because, just by seeing him, I will sense
that I love him more than I love myself."