Life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness
Yet, our lives are filled with emptiness
For the love of God, here we gather again
Asking your help, the God of the Hungarians
We're without chains and shackles
And yet our souls and hearts are without laughter
Again and again we make this journey
To you O Lord, asking for mercy
Requesting, begging for your help.
Guide us, give us direction in our need
Prevent us from committing the same deed.
We have made the same mistake many times.
Don't you feel that we deserve better times?
Times to be free, happy and alive.
We have no one to turn to
Other than you, our Almighty God,
For a decades worth of centuries past
While we're asking for help, we're
Asking for forgiveness as well.
God of the Magyars
Think with strength
But act with kindness
For heaven's sake
My God, the God of the Magyars
You were with us then
When we were Avars
Why forsake us now?
We have survived the Mongols
The Turks and twice the Russian hordes
Can't we live in peace even with just ourselves?
Do we need tyrants to give us strength?
Why are we giving rewards to others
That we got as punishment to ourselves?
Shall we put back the buntings
On the tanks still rumbling?
Molotov Cocktails to the Russians?
Keep an open basket without guards
With donated money?
String the quislings up on a tree?
The brave and the dead there?
The fearful here.
Don't make me ask. Don't say no more,
Who, then stayed home?
We have provided enough markers
To ourselves as well as to others
We showed it to the whole world
How to end tyranny from this earth.
Since then, were just living
Some happily, some still suffering
Whatever our faith given to us
It's got to be better than
If at home they would have buried us.
The hope is still alive within.
The soul suffers.
The body is ready to fight,
But the mind thinks:
What happened a century and a half ago?
Then again in the fall of 58 years ago?
Who taught us, who gave an example?
Who told us that without freedom we can't live?
1848 was a great example,
Fighting for Freedom, not just to promise.
Share the newfound liberation
With every Freedom loving nation.
Who else, if it wasn't 1848?
Who else urged you to partake
Even if you would risk the gallows
You must, for yourself and for all who follow?
The ides of March, unified us all:
The worker, the student, the farmer, the caregiver
The gendarme the soldier, the actor, the doctor
The young and the old, the timid and the bold
Even some Russians came into the fold
Pagan and atheist or the believer, married or sing:
They are known now, the world over
As the heroes of the ill-fated October
The freedom fighters, Hungary's pride
Who are ready to start again to fight
Prison? Suffering? Maybe even the gallows?
What lies ahead, what's your fate?
Your body and soul unified, ready to partake
In the fight for your freedom,
For yourself as well as for others.
The mind over matter, matters more
As you break the shackles from your body and soul.
No matter how long you called prisons your home
The intoxicating first breath of free air
Will make you forget the nightmares.
It won't be like the first flight
Of a juvenile bird from the nest,
More like a bird of prey in search of a conquest.
Your spirit will soar with the best.
Your life's worth more in death than alive,
But it doesn't mean you must just die.
Fight for your existence, measure every drop of blood
Extract the price from those who attack
Your Freedom and that of all others
Freedom; the treasure worth dying for
Freedom, living in it, worth so much more.
Who's going to arrive first, what will be the order
To the great beyond, when the fighting is over?
You'll have nothing to hide.
No need for a cover-up.
God will know it all, welcomes you
When your time will be up.
Freedom we wanted from the shackles and chains
We sought a solution without warfare.
Meek were the crowds as they gathered
They didn't want anybody to get hurt
But like a wounded beast that roared
After they were fired upon without a warning
And the regime took back even the promises previously given
But then the crowds began its demands
.
What followed was two glorious weeks
Where actions spoke louder than any deeds.
Short liver were these glory days of the revolution.
Traitors were the promise givers,
And we were attacked by the Soviets.
The worker, the student, the farmer, the caregiver
.
Dark were the days
Frightening were the nights
Hereafter seemed to arrive
Hell was what we had called paradise
Orphans were born left and right
Mothers were looking for husbands
Who participated in the fight
Tens of thousands missing
Tens or thousands died
Tens of thousands took to flight
Tens of thousands locked up day and night
Tens or thousands to labor camps arrived
The vast Soviet Union, Siberia complied
Hundreds and thousands in foreign land quietly died.
The worker, the student, the farmer, the caregiver
The Gendarme, the soldier, the actor, the doctor
The young and the old, the timid and bold
Even some Russian's came into the fold
Pagan and atheist or the believer, married or single
They are known now, the world over
As the Heroes or the ill-fated October
The Freedom Fighters, Hungary's pride
Where were our western friends in need?
We could have used their help, indeed!
We were left alone to bleed
Empty promises were all we were fed to eat
We survived another 34 years
We suffered, worked, lived in fear
They blackmailed the hero's relatives
Tortured those who dared not to believe
In the system built for the communist elite.
Communist elite? It's an oxymoron!
How can you trust a system
Where brutality gives them a high?
The civil rights of many, almost all
Didn't exist or trampled upon from day one on
What we needed, but never for
In the brutally harsh decades that followed the fight
The cruel, shameless system with no morals
Devoid of love and understanding
Totally lacked caring and sharing
What we needed, was kindness in actions
The kind of kindness
That even the deaf could have heard
Kindness, visible even for the blind men
Hearts, that were not made of stone
Tender and loving care, for young and old
Prosperity, happiness and peace
Freedom for all, liberty and grace
Give no more reason's to emigrate
Emigrate we did, continued to escape
Until the borders were free to cross
There was no need for a visa, no fuss
Looked good until you tried
No more political asylum
As you arrived to the other side
This proved to be stronger
Than the iron curtain
That stayed on much longer.
Oh! They have thrown a few bones to us
We had Kadar's Gulyas politics and such
It looked good to a casual observer
But in reality, it wasn't much.
We still had the secret police watch
We still heard the jail doors behind us shit
There was no milk and honey
Nor the land of the free
The brave was banned from the society
The worker, the student, the farmer, the caregiver
The Gendarme, the soldier, the actor, the doctor
The young and the old, the timid and bold
Even some Russian's came into the fold
Pagan and atheist or the believer, married or single
They are known now, the world over
As the heroes of the ill-fated October
The Freedom Fighters, Hungary's pride
Can't make bacon from the dogs hide
Proclaims, an old Hungarian saying
But the communists tried.
Even they had doubt
In the Soviet might
For their brothers, the Eastern Germans
They opened the borders and cleared the mines
That was the fall of the iron curtain
As we knew it, and we were certain
The Berlin Wall would fall, we can ascertain
That no tyrant can control her people
For forever, without a revolution.
The "revolution" came quietly
As the East Germans, traveled
By tens of thousands, to Austria through Hungary
The Berlin Wall was in ruins
Poland again rebelled from within
To the surprise of the whole world
Hungary's communist party
Declared it's own demise
Folded, ceased to exist
Rolled over, died
ALLELUIA! Free at last
Rebuilding begins in earnest
You can feel the sweet taste of your sweat
It's no longer blood, it's no longer tears
We're back in control, so it seems
No more birds with clipped wings
No more broken legs of the swift
No more taped beaks of mouths
No more poked eyes
Your tongue is intact, not cut out
No roof on the sky, it's limitless
No shackles tied to our legs
Nor is there a yoke on our necks
No more iron curtain with its towers and mines
To keep us in, or the visitors out.
They are with us still, with us, again
The worker, the student, the farmer, the caregiver
Those of us who are still here
We remember the songs to sing
Even the midget can become a giant
A slayer of the dragon or that of the tyrant
Suffer still, you, who are hiding.
Hunger and miserable dying
Be your future even now
If you don't work for Hungary to grow.
Grow in numbers, as well as in spirit
Glorify today's heroes and the past with it.
A lit candle is not the same as fireworks
Just hoping is not the same as action
Love one another and the motherland
Give each other a helping hand
Let the wounds heal
But you mustn't forget
Somebody paid a horrendous price
Some gave their life, so you can do that.
Just remember how young are the orphans
Some of the wounds are still open
Some blood continues to drip
Onto the land that Arpad did give
Together again we're building
A strong homeland and magnificent people
Not a land of empty promises
Not a castle from playing card pieces
You lead us and stand guard
We wish no part of any red star
My soul is crying. Quietly screams
My nation, my children, for you I weep
The quiet is intense, loud
To all of you from all of us we shout
Gain back, regain your freedom
Vote, but not for the tyrant
Promise me now, your alliance
Do what you have done
On the fateful October
Difficulties are plentiful
The memories are unmerciful
Then there are those
Who are no longer with us
Some, who can't traverse the oceans
Some, who just don't possess the resources
Wealth or health wise
Some took residence with God
Wake up the world again
Love and peace to all, wherever.
So celebrate with a song or two
Work is plentiful and pays well too
You can work to your heart's content
Speak or write without censoring it's content
OH MY GOD! What happened, what transpired?
Four short years later the ballot box decided
How dare you to forget the ides of March?
How could you vote back into power
The old tyrants, the jackals?
I got a call from my father
He lives along the milky way now
He chided me strongly, I want you to know
How can you do this?
How can you let it happen?
I'm too far now to take action
But, I will if I must.
We have not given to the reds
Neither in 45, nor in 56, any trust
They dared, imprisoned many of us
And now, you brought them back with a ballot box?
Why did we fight them?
Why have we given our blood?
Why did we suffer in prisons?
Why didn't the memories
Of our ancestors we preserved?
Nearly five decades after the war,
The grandchildren visit us only
If we have a grave at all.
We're restless in our eternal rest
We just don't know how to egress.
Egress we will, if we must.
Soon you'll have a chance again
To vote, to fill the ballot box
We're practicing here up on the Milky Way
Like Csaba and his "SZEKELYS"**
With the soldiers of a long ago system
The only red we wish it see
Is the blood of the enemy?
Turul* you majestic bird, fly with the eagles again.
The worker, the student, the farmer, the caregiver
The gendarme, the soldier, the actor, the doctor
The young and the old, the timid and bold
Even some Russian's came into the fold
Pagan and atheist or the believer, married or single
They are known now, the world offer
As the hero's of the ill-fated October
* Turul a mythical eagle like bird.
** Szekely/ Szekler the scouts of Attila and the first Hungarians in Transilvania
