A Fighter Who Fell

High on the mountain peaks of Timor
The grass grows
And warms the fractured bones
Of a fighter who fell

Down on the grassy plains of Timor
A flower shows
And beautifies the bones
Of a fighter who fell

This is the hopeful life that grows
From life's release
The life that every woman knows
Who calls for peace
With every waking breath
But not the peace of death

Throughout the peaks and plains of Timor
The life-blood flows
And animates the bones
Of the fighters who fell

Xanana Gusmão

(originally written in Portuguese)
English translation by Agio Pereira & Rob Wesley-Smith; versification by Peter Wesley-Smith