We Deny All Masters

Chanson

1.—Whether they sport feathers or furs,

The crowd, dazzled,

Bows low before their leaders,

But of that crowd, we make no part!

We are those who deny all masters,

The unbowed and the unbroken,

Those who want no chiefs nor priests,

The eternal rebels!

REFRAIN

We deny all masters,

The Outsiders whom nothing can tame

Those who want neither chiefs, dictators nor priests

Neither command or obey!

2.—Our logic—we have no wish

To impose it on anyone,

And since you find your own logic good,

Act, brothers, according to your conviction.

But leave off, then, any attempt to lead us

By force, to act as you do;

Leave us to carry on as we please,

Even if it is to love what you hate!

3.—Scattered across the globe

We are but a handful of outsiders,

Misunderstood and rejected by the world.

Our lot is hardly enviable:

We are mocked, we are persecuted,

And often we are cast into prison,

We are subject to a thousand troubles

To punish us for being in the right!

4.—Finding such a life too dangerous,

Weary, more than one abandons our path,

But what does it matter! redoubling the energy

Of our ideas, with full hands,

We scatter our seeds

To the four corners of the horizon

And this act amply compensates

For slander, treachery and abandonment.

5.—Perhaps one day humans will grow weary

Of being led around like herds of beasts;

Who knows if someday they will not grow tired

Of professing all these ready-made beliefs?

Of being flesh for profit, glory-fodder

Perhaps one day they will have had their fill.

On that day, we will cry victory!

On that day, it will be our turn to reap.

Maison Centrale de Nimes, October 1919,

E. Armand