Ode an die Freude [English translation]

Oh friends, not these sounds!

Let us instead strike up more pleasing

and more joyful ones! Joy!

Joy, beautiful spark of the divinity,

Daughter from Elysium,

We enter your sanctuary, burning with fervour,

o heavenly being!

||: Your magic brings together

what custom has sternly divided.

All men shall become brothers,

wherever your gentle wings hover:||

Whoever has been lucky enough,

to become a friend to a friend,

Whoever has found a beloved wife,

let him join our songs of praise!

||: Yes, and anyone who can call one soul

his own on this earth!

Any who cannot, let them slink away

from this gathering in tears! :||

Every creature drinks in joy

at nature's breast;

Good and Bad alike

follow her trail of roses.

||: She gives us kisses and wine,

a true friend, even in death;

Even the worm was given desire,

and the cherub stands before God! :||

Gladly, just as His suns hurtle

through the glorious universe,

||: So you, brothers, should run your course,

joyfully, like a conquering hero. :||

Joy, beautiful spark of the divinity,

Daughter from Elysium,

We enter your sanctuary, burning with fervour,

o heavenly being!

||: Your magic brings together

what custom has sternly divided.

All men shall become brothers,

wherever your gentle wings hover:||

||: Be embraced, you millions!

This kiss is for the whole world! :||

||: Brothers, above the canopy of stars

must dwell a loving father.:||

Do you bow down before Him, you millions?

Do you sense your Creator, o world?

Seek Him above the canopy of stars!

||: He must dwell beyond the stars. :||

||: Joy, beautiful spark of the divinity,

Daughter from Elysium,

We enter your sanctuary, burning with fervour,

o heavenly being!:||

Be embraced, you millions!

||: This kiss is for the whole world! :||

||: Joy, Daughter from Elysium! :||

||: Your magic brings together

what custom has sternly divided. :||

||: All men shall become brothers,

wherever your gentle wings hover. :||

Be embraced, you millions!

This kiss is for the whole world!

Brothers, above the canopy of stars

must dwell a loving father.

Be embraced, you millions!

This kiss is for the whole world!

Joy, beautiful spark of the divinity!

Daughter from Elysium!

Joy, beautiful Spark of the Divinity!

Spark of the Divinity!