¡Happy Guatemala! May your orchards
never be defiled by the executioner,
neither let there be slaves licking the yoke
or tyrants spitting in your face.
If tomorrow your hallowed lands
are under threat of foreign invasion
your beautiful flag, free in the wind,
will call to triumph or die trying.
Your beautiful flag, free in the wind,
will call to triumph or die trying.
Your people, their soulds burning,
will be rather dead than enslaved.
From your old, hard chains
you smelted, with a wrathful hand
the plow that fetilizes the land
and the sword that guards the honor.
Our fathers fought one day
lightened up by patriotic fire
and, without a bloody clash, obtained
a throne of love for you to sit in.
And, without a bloody clash, obtained
a throne of love for you to sit in
which, with powerful words gave
life to the redeeming ideals of the homeland.
Your teachings are a piece of heaven
in which a cloud fixes its whiteness
and woe betide who, in blind madness
tries to befoul its colors.
Fort your proud, altive sons,
that revere the peace like a religion,
never shy from the heated fighting
if it´s to defend land and home.
Never shy from the heated fighting
if it´s to defend land and home.
For honor is their only ideal on their souls
and the homeland´s altar their only worship place.
Leaning against the imposing Andine Mountains,*
with the mighty rumbling of two seas
under a wing of crimson and gold
you drowse of on the shadow of the beatiful Quetzal **
Indian fowl that lives on your crest,
paladin that protects your land,
¡Might it fly even higher
than the condor and the bald eagle!
¡Might it fly even higher
than the condor and the bald eagle
and upon its wings carry up to heaven
Guatemala, your undying name!
* In Spanish, los Andes. The main mountain range on South America, spanning across several countries and featuring some of the highest peaks on Earth, e.g. Mount Aconcagua.
** Mythical figure from the Aztec and Mayan traditions, that takes the form of a pale winged and feathered serpent, believed to be the manifestation of the supreme protector deity of mankind, Quetzalcoatl.
I am kind of curious about why someone would request a national anthem to be translated. Not complaining- and it was a fun translation to do, too, but certainly it´s not a request I see often.