L'Hymne à Saint-Barthélemy

I
Isle forgotten by the gods, unknown by the men,
You were sleeping, languid, waiting for a given name,
When the drum of the feet trampling your blond coves,
Tore you out of your dream and opened you to the world.

Chorus:
Ouanalao or Saint Barthélemy
Isle of the Antilles and isle of France
Don’t give up your faith, don’t give up your hope
Your freedom remains our motto

II
Arawaks, Caraibes, Bretons and pirates
English, Flemish, French, Spanish and settlers
Canoes, caravelles, galiotes and galions.
Have written your history at the bottom of your bays.

Chorus

III
Your children, seamen they were, went from isle to isle
To catch elsewhere the fortune you didn’t give to them
But from the kings’ words, Swedish and then French
They received as inheritance honor and dignity.

Chorus

IV
Land of hope, of fire, of pain and of spirit
Defying the ocean, the winds, the hurricanes
Without complaint your daughters and sons they rebuild
As their parents have always done before them.

Chorus

V
To your barren hills give your beautiful beaches
To your years of drought, your hours of plenty
To your exiled sons their strength and their power
To your moments of doubts the word of the wise men.

Chorus