That’s how we die, that’s how we die, We die every day. Because it is so comfy to let go. Mornings still in sleep and dream, Noontime already there, By evening at the bottom of a grave.
Slaughter is our house of joy. Blood is our only sun. Death is our sign, our magic word. We leave both wife and child, What have they to do with us? If one relies on us alone . . .
So we murder, so we kill. We murder every day our comrades in a dance of death. Brother, figure it out with me – brother, your breast, brother you must fall and die.
We don’t murmur, we don’t growl, We’re quiet every day. Until the joint of the hip-bone turns. Our camping ground is hard. Our bread is dry. Bloody and soiled our dear god.
We thank you, we thank you, Dear Kaiser, for your grace in deciding to lie down and die. Just sleep, sleep soft and still. Until you waken our poor body, Now covered by the lawn.