No doubt I’ll comment on it more, but for now I wanted to offer my deep sympathy in the form of sharing an anthem I grew up with, “The Flemish Lion”. Both in this song and in the recent personal updates I see determination and fierce courage in the face of gruesome brutality. I keep re-reading in particular verse IV.
Here goes the translation:
The Flemish Lion
They shall not tame him, the proud Flemish Lion,
Even if they threaten his freedom with chains and shouts.
They shall not tame him, as long as a Fleming lives,
As long as the Lion can claw, as long as he has teeth.
Chorus:
They shall not tame him,
as long as a Fleming lives,
As long as the Lion can claw,
as long as he has teeth.
II
Time devours cities, no thrones remain standing:
The armies may fall, but a people shall never perish.
The enemy marches to the battlefield, surrounded by mortal danger.
We laugh at his fury, the Flemish Lion is there!
III
He has been fighting for a thousand years for freedom, land, and God;
And still, his strength remains in all its youthful delight.
When they think him powerless and provoke him with a kick,
Then he rises threateningly and frightful before them.
IV
Woe to the thoughtless one, false and full of betrayal,
Who comes to caress the Flemish Lion and treacherously strikes him.
Not a single movement of his escapes their watchful eye:
And if he feels wounded, he shows his might and roars.
V
The signal for revenge has been given, he is tired of their provocation;
With fire in his eyes, with anger, he springs at the enemy.
He tears, destroys, crushes, covered in blood and muck,
And triumphantly grins at the enemy's quivering corpse.
