A Mis Amigos (To My Friends)

By Jose Marti

When one dies
In the arms of a grateful homeland,
Death ends, prison is shattered;
Life, at last, with dying, begins!

Oh, more than a world, more! When glory
Snatches us from this narrow dwelling,
The spirit grows,
Heaven opens, the world expands
And among worlds we dawn.

Despot, look here how your blind
Anxious yearning conspires against you:
Look upon your striving and your impotence, and then
Look upon that corpse you conquered,
Who died with a hymn in his throat,
Who mutilated expires in your arms
And rises in the arms of glory!

Let your vengeful hand not waver;
Let not the one who moans nor the one who weeps stop you:
Kill, despot, kill!

For he who dies before your impious fury,
Heaven opens, the world expands!