Sarie Marais [English translation]

My Sarie Marais is so far from my heart 1

But I hope to see her again

She lived in the area of Mooi-river

Before the war began

Chorus:

Oh bring me back to the old Transvaal

Where my Sarie lives

There by the maize

By the green thorn tree

There my Sarie lives

I was so scared that the Kakhis2 would catch me

And send me far across the sea

So I fled to Upington

There next to the Grootriver

Chorus

The khakis are just like crocodiles

They always drag you to the water

They throw you on a ship for a long long trip;

Who knows where they're taking you

Chorus

Relief came and it was possible that we could go home

back to the old Transvaal

My love will probably also be there

to reward me with a kiss

1. Sarie Marais is a traditional South African folk song, created during either the First Anglo-Boer War (c. 1880) (less likely) or the Second Anglo-Boer War (ca. 1900).2. British soldiers