(Distant marching cadence — like ghosts in fog)
Links… zwei… drei… vier…
Für Heimat und Vaterland…
(For home and fatherland…)
[Verse 1]
We marched in lines through forest black
Boots in time, no looking back
Orders came like falling rain
Hold the ground. End the pain
Vorwärts, Männer! Halt die Stellung!
But the ground would not obey
Shifted slow, then slid away
Roots like fingers through the mud
Drinking deep of friend and blood
[Pre-Chorus]
No trumpet called
No banner flew
Just whispers in the earth we knew
[Chorus]
We did not surrender—we ran
From the teeth of our own land
No flag survives, no line will stand
Where Nidhagar breathes through the sand
Wir liefen fort… wir mussten flieh’n…
(We ran… we had to flee…)
We did not surrender—we fled
From the voice beneath the dead
If you hear the soil demand—
Run before it knows your name
[Verse 2]
Iron wings above the trees
Drakes that shrieked like dying seas
We fired into smoke and flame
Nothing living fought the same
Captain cried Zurück! Zurück!
(Back! Fall back!)
Then the trench itself unstitched
And through the mud a marching song
Kept keeping time when men were gone
Corrupted March Chant
Links… zwei… drei… vier…
But now too slow… too near…
Für Heimat—
(silence)
Für Vaterland—
(the earth replies)
Only the land kept marching.
Chorus
We did not surrender—we fled
From the voice beneath the dead
If you hear the soil demand—
Run before it knows your name
[Bridge (whispered)]
We buried none… the ground refused
We marked no graves… they were all used
Die Erde lebt… sie frisst uns auf.
(The earth lives… it devours us.)
At night we heard old marching tunes
Coming from abandoned dunes
No drummer there
No soldiers found
Only boots beneath the ground
This is no war that men can win—
The land itself has turned on them
[Break]
This isn’t Germany anymore…
Es gehört ihm.
(It belongs to him.)
[Final Chorus]
We did not surrender—we ran
From the heart of a dying land
No king, no cross, no last command
Can save you from his hand
Kein Reich bleibt steh’n, wo Drachen geh’n.
(No realm stands where dragons tread.)
If you march where we once stand—
Run… or join us in the sand.
[Outro (fading cadence)]
Links… zwei… drei… vier…
Links… zwei… drei…
[one voice]
Wo ist Heimat?
(Where is home?)
[many voices answer]
Unter der Erde.
(Beneath the earth.)
ElCeviche
