Sin Moder geit un jammert,
Sin Vader wischt de Thran,
Ik melk de Köh un feg de Stuv,
Mi lat se stan un gan.

His mother goes around moaning.
His father wipes his tears.
I milk the cows and sweep the floor.
I don’t really count, it appears.

De Nawers kamt to trösten
Un snackt en hartli Wort,
Un wenn se tröst, un wenn se weent,
Slik ik mi truri fort.

The neighbors come to comfort,
Have lovely words for the lad,
And when they comfort, when they weep
I sneak away all sad.

Des Abends inne Kamer
Bi depe düstre Nach,
Denn ween ik all de Laken natt,
Bet an den hellen Dag.

Alone up in my bedroom,
Concealed by darkest night,
That’s when I soak my bed with tears
Until the day’s first light.

Se hebbt je noch en annern,
Se hebbt je noch en Sæn:
Ik heff je nix as bittre Thran,
Un mutt se heemli ween’n.

Don’t they still have another,
Another son almost grown?
And what have I? Just bitter tears
That I must weep alone.

Un kamt sin Kameraden
Un seggt, wa brav he weer,
So mutt ik rut alleen nan Hof,
Un legg mi anne Eer.

And when his comrades visit
and say he was a brave guy
I have to go out to the yard alone,
Lie down on the ground to cry.

Mi dünkt, ik hör dat Scheten,
Un wa de Kugeln fallt,
Mi dünkt, ik hör, he röppt, he röppt:
Min Anna, kumm man bald!

It’s as if I can hear the shooting,
The bullets’ whistle and beat.
It’s as if I can hear him calling,
“Come soon now, Anna, my sweet!”