Blind vom Licht der Kerzen [English translation]

Blind from the light of many candles

You1 don’t see in the darkness

You clothe yourselves in velvet and silk

And you fatten yourselves on richly decked tables.

Our grievances are irritating to you

You can’t and don’t want to understand us.

You live in excess, full to the point of weariness

And what bothers2 you, you don’t want to see.

We stand out here like ghosts

While inside you dance and laugh.

We see you in bright windows -

You see only the night outside.3

Blind from light you couldn’t guess

That “misery” is more than a word.

You’ve never looked into the big eyes

(Of) the children that die on the edge of the streets.

Between rats, garbage and curses,

“Living” only means to decay4

People without courage have5 nothing but hate and rage

But you can’t see our fist.6

We stand out here like ghosts

And hear how you laugh inside

We are shadows behind the window -

You only see the night outside.

What is wrong7 must be changed.8

It can’t go on like this anymore!9

God will bless those who change it

And curse those who don’t see.10

Why?

Why… are you blind from the light of candles?

1. you plural, as in “you all”- throughout the song “you” is used in this plural form.2. or “disrupts/interferes with”3. ie; “you don’t see us standing outside”4. ”zugrunde” or “zu Grunde” literally translating as “to the ground” as in “knocked to the ground / levelled” etc. The phrase “zugrunde gehen” (literally “to go to the ground”) is usually used to mean “to collapse/decay/perish”. In this case it could mean either that living/life in this world (ie; the slums and poverty) means only to decay and die, or that their lives are reduced to the very basics of surviving as opposed to actually ‘living’.5. literally “in people without courage is nothing but…”6. ie; our anger7. “verkehrt”=“wrong/amiss” coming from the verb “kehren”=“to return” and the prefix “ver” (usually implying change or a negative bent to the verb). In this case it implies contortion (twisted back on oneself) or “incorrect return” as in “inverted/backward/inside-out”, all accepted translations of “verkehrt”.8. literally “someone must change (it)”.9. or “no more”10. or “see nothing”, both referring (I assume) to ‘not seeing’ or ‘ignoring’ the injustice of revolution-era France