Né en 17 à Leidenstadt [English translation]

What if I were born in '17 in Leidenstadt*,

Upon the ruins of a battlefield,

Would I have been any better, or worse than those people,

Had I been a German?

Raised in humiliation, hatred and ignorance,

Fed on dreams of revenge,

Would I have been one of those unpromising minds,

A tear carried away by the flood?

Had I grown up in the docklands in Belfast**,

Soldier for a faith, for a class,

Would I have had the strength to betray those of my kind,

By holding out a hand?

Were I born white and wealthy in Johannesburg***,

Between power and fear,

Would I have heard those calls carried by the wind?

Nothing will be like it was before...

We will never know what we're truly made of,

Hidden behind appearences, is there

The soul of a brave, an accomplice or an executioner?

Either the worst or the best?

Would we be resisting, or just be another sheep in the herd,

Judging on more than mere words?

What if I were born in '17 in Leidenstadt,

Upon the ruins of a battlefield,

Would I have been any better, or worse than those people,

Had I been a German?

And may we be saved, you and I,

The choice of a side, for as long as possible.