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A post by Maynard

This being Cinco de Mayo, commemorating Mexico’s historic victory over the French, it’s a good time to pay our respects to the Mexican National Anthem.

Don’t get me wrong; I’ve got no problem with the Mexican Anthem. But every now and then, we hear some goofball whining that the Star Spangled Banner is militaristic and glorifies war, and I want to tell them to go bother the Mexicans for a change of pace. I salute Mexico’s readiness to defend the home country against the “enemy outlander” who would “dare to profane your ground with his step.” Some of our own “sanctuary cities” could take a lesson there.

Anyway, for your multicultural edification, here is the National Anthem of Mexico, translated into English for your reading convenience:

Chorus:
Mexicans, at the cry of war,
make ready the steel and the steed,
and may the earth tremble its centers
at the resounding roar of the cannon.
And may the earth tremble its centers
at the resounding roar of the cannon.

First Stanza:
Let gird, oh Fatherland, your brow with olive
by the divine archangel of peace,
for in heaven your eternal destiny
was written by the finger of God.
But if some enemy outlander should dare
to profane your ground with his step,
think, oh beloved country, that heaven
has given you a soldier in every son.

Stanza V:
War, war without quarter to any who dare
to tarnish the country’s coat of arms!
War, war! Let the national banners
be soaked in waves of blood.
War, war! In the mountain, in the valley,
let the cannons thunder in horrid unison
and may the sonorous echoes resound
with cries of Union! Liberty!

Stanza VI:
Oh Fatherland, ere your children, defenseless
bend their neck beneath the yoke,
may your fields be watered with blood,
may they leave their footprints in blood.
And may your temples, palaces and towers
collapse with horrid clamor,
and their ruins continue on, saying:
Of a thousand heroes, this fatherland was.

Stanza X:
Oh, Fatherland, Fatherland, your children swear to you
to breathe their last for your sake,
if the bugle with its warlike accent
should call them to fight with courage.
For you the olive wreathes!
A memory for them of glory!
For you a laurel of victory!
A tomb for them of honor!