Suv­wI’ van bom – The Warrior’s Anthem

Klingon Lyrics

Qoy qeylIs puqloD.
Qoy puqbe’pu’.
yoHbogh matlhbogh je SuvwI’
Say’moHchu’ may’ ’Iw.
maSuv manong ’ej maHoHchu’.
nI’be’ yInmaj ’ach wovqu’.
batlh maHeghbej ’ej yo’ qIjDaq vavpu’ma’
     DImuv. pa’ reH maSuvtaHqu’.
     mamevQo’. maSuvtaH. ma’ov.

Hilary Bader’s Lyrics

Hear! Sons of Kahless.
Hear! Daughters too.
The blood of battle washes clean.
The warrior brave and true.
We fight, we love, and then we kill.
Our lives burn short and bright.
Then we die with honor and join our fathers
     in the Black Fleet where we battle forever,
     battling on through the Eternal fight.

Literal Translation

Hear, sons of Kahless!
Hear, daughters!
The battle’s blood perfectly cleans
the warrior who is brave and loyal.
We fight, we are passionate, and we kill perfectly.
Our lives are not long, but they are very bright.
We will certainly die with honor, and we will join our fathers in
     the black fleet. There we will continue to fight.
     We will not stop. We will continue to fight. We will compete.

Recordings

Here are a few different recordings of Suv­wI’ van bom – The Warrior’s Anthem (or The Klingon Anthem as it is sometimes called):

As sung in the computer game »Star Trek: Klingon« (published ). (Can anyone verify that this is where this recording came from?)
As heard in »Soldiers of the Empire« (Deep Space Nine, 5th season, 21st episode, aired ) – Thanks to Kevin M. who sent to me this in .
Recording on my answering machine (as sung by a bunch of German klingonists through the wires of the European telephone system, in early ). – Thanks to Astrid Jekat for calling.

And last, but not least, a plain text file with the lyrics.