As If He Knows [German translation]

1

It’s as if he knows,

he’s standing close to me,

his breath warm on my sleeve,

his head hung low.

It’s as if he knows

what the dawn will bring:

the end of everything

for my old Banjo.

And all along the picket lines beneath the desert sky

the Light Horsemen move amongst their mates to say one last goodbye;

and the horses stand so quietly,

row on silent row.

It’s as if they know.

Time after time,

we rode through shot and shell,

we rode in and out of Hell,

on their strong backs.

Time after time,

they brought us safely through,

by their swift sure hooves,

and their brave hearts.

Tomorrow we will form up ranks and march down to the quay,

and sail back to our loved ones in that dear land across the sea,

while our loyal and true companions

- who asked so little and gave so much -

will lie dead in the dust.

For the orders came:

no horses to return;

we were to abandon them

to be slaves.

After all we’d shared,

and all that we’d been through,

a nation’s gratitude

was a dusty grave.

For we can’t leave them to the people here, we’d rather see them dead,

so each man will take his best mate’s horse with a bullet through the head;

for the people here are like their land:

wild and cruel and hard.

So, Banjo, here’s your reward.

It’s as if he knows,

he's standing close to me,

his breath warm on my sleeve,

his head hung low.

As he if he knew.

1. The following is a comment about the song, by the author himself.

The story is as follows:

The song is of course about the horses sent overseas during WW1 to serve in the various theatres of war. Of the approximately 53000 horses Australia sent overseas during WW1, only one ever returned to Australia after the war. At the end of the war the Anzacs were ordered to get rid of their horses, the authorities did not want them returning to Australia and perhaps bringing in anthrax or TB or suchlike back into the country. Most of the horses were sold or given away, but in Palestine the Light Horsemen refused to give or sell their horses to the Arab population of Palestine, and chose instead to shoot them all. I based the song on an actual Light Horseman called Elijah Conn who had a horse in Palestine called Banjo. Elijah never forgot Banjo and for the rest of his life could not talk about him without tears coming to his eyes.