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Curse the birds of prey
That drop their iron eggs
Wantonly
That crush the fields
Viciously
Sowing hunger
Hatching death
Ripping the breast
Of our dear brotherland.
Vietnam! Vietnam!
Every bomb on your breast
Is a blow on our hearts.
The crags of terror
Are in Mactan, Clark Field
Sangley Point and manywheres;
The nests of evil here
Comfort the black birds
That torture you.
How many nests of evil
Have been built
On your soil?
How much fire and poison
Have the black birds breathed out?
How many claws
Have ruined and robbed you
Of your children and substance?
Answer us with mortars and rockets,
Land mines and night raids.
Answer us with the myriad sounds of your guns.
Answer us with your fight for freedom.
Answer us with cautious whispers
In your endless tunnels
And shout to us in triumph
After every battle against our common foe.
Let the wasps of your anger
Sting his ugly face.
Let the mountains break
The neck of the black birds.
Their dirty payload of fragmentation
And white phosphorous bombs
Can neither burn nor break your spirit.
Nature is the friend of the fighting masses,
Command every inch of it with genius.
Let every bush, tree and rock be a shield,
Ensnare the enemy into the eye of a rifle
Or into a pit of bamboo stakes
Hidden by rivers and carpets of leaves.
Let every coconut tree
Be the taut bow of an arrow.
Let the eastern wind
Strike the western terror in flight.
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