De?teapt?-Te, române! (Wake up Romania/Romanian!)

I only learned the words of the Anthem this summer...after approximately 4 years of living in Romania. Quite frankly, I was blown away by the fierceness of its sentiment. First, its a far cry from "Oh Canada We Stand on Guard for Thee". Secondly, its a sentiment that I haven't particularly felt in all my time of living here... Apathy yes...Brotherhood no.

I think it would have been GREAT if Madonna sang the anthem in her Bucharest Concert

*I've taken some poetic license with this translation (which I originally took from Wikipedia) for the sake of making it more accessible to foreigners...Please if you are Romanian and have suggestions for the translation, let me know

Romania/Romanian, awaken your Spirit from the sleep of Death

Impressed upon you by Tyrannies of barbarians;

The time is now or never to fashion a new fate,

A fate stronger than your foes',

A fate that they will bow to!

Now or never, we will prove our legacy to all,

We will prove that through our veins still flows the Blood of Ancient Rome,

That in our chests we proudly hail a Name,

That is triumphant in battle...

Romanian, raise your strong brow and gaze around you..

A forest of brave youths stand a hundred thousand fold..

They await an order and are ready to pounce, as wolves among the sheep

Old men, and young, from mountains high and open plains.

Gaze mightily, at the glorious shadows of Michael, Stephen, Corvine.

The Romanian nation, the descendants,

With weapons in our hands and fire burning in our souls

"Life in Liberty or Death", we all shout together.

You were vanquished by the evils of envy

By the blind disunity at the Milcov and Carpathians

But together our Spirit was touched Liberty,

And we Swore allegiance, to be forever Brothers!

A widowed mother from the time of Michael the Great

Asks of her sons a helping hand today

And curses, with tears in her eyes, whosoever

In times of such great danger, proves to be a traitor....

Is it not enough that despotism and its unseeing eye ,
Which for centuries enslaved us as cattle,
Now attempts, in blind haughtiness,
To steal our Language?
We will fight them to the Death...

 Romanians of the four corners, now or never,

Be United in your Thoughts, United in your Feelings...

Priests, with the Cross before you..

The motto is Liberty and its goal eternal

Better to die in battle, in full glory

Than be enslaved again in our ancestral homeland!

Wowza!