Rabenballade [English translation]

I went through the moorland alone,

there I heard three birds crying.

On a tree three proud ravens,

they were as black as ebony.

One said: "Companion of mine,

Where shall the next meal be?"

"After a battle, on a green field,

there lies wounded a hero."

But his dog watches over him at his side,

who waits faithfully hour after hour.

And circling in the sky,

his faithful hawks fly above him.

His sweetheart comes too,

she has followed the hawks' cry.

But deep in the moor, in the crimson sunset,

the noble hero is long dead.

And again lies a faithful man in the moor,

a hero, who has lost everything for no reason.

A new grave for an old war,

for the lies of fame and heroic victory.

For the fleeting rage of a nobleman,

who high in a castle once sought revenge;

for a king whom he didn't even know,

he now lies dead in a distant land.