How Much for a Breath of Freedom?

The lesson is beginning. Open your notebooks. And from the right, let us write the date together Tuesday the 25th of January, 2011 And in the middle of the line write the title Big enough to contain the universe: Revolution The lesson is beginning. Open your notebooks. Youth, fresh and vital as green branches Shout with all their might And break the silence and it trembles And under their feet, the dust of their homeland speaks "Where were you all these years?" The answer echoes in the streets of Embaba, Zanazine, The University clock Tower and the alleys of Sayeda, Dar El Salam and El Alaa Indeed every inch of our sacred land And tears had run down the cheeks of every mother Now here we are! Open your arms to us And let us teach the world The meaning of man The meaning of Revolution The lesson is beginning. Open your notebooks. A drop of blood How much for a breath of freedom? The price of freedom is that groom Dance, oh mother, and light the lanterns The lesson is beginning. Open your notebooks. As many as there are sighs that flow from a newborn baby We won't leave. He should leave, but we will not leave. And say whatever you want to say No one is going to believe you Because they understand, it is you that does not understand, Oh how we've missed lifting our heads high And feeling once more what it is to be human People who care for one another And seeing in each other's eyes warmth, and our lost spirit returning And seeing people point at us, saying "Those, those are Egyptians" I see the sun rise from Midan Tahrir I beg you, to clear the way for it What is the difference between the 25th of January And any other day The difference is exactly that of a person who was dead And wakes suddenly and sees himself as someone else From the first cry out of a dark girl's lips Her hair flying with joy And in her eyes, a strange tear Such is the difference between life and death Is the difference clear? The lesson is beginning. Open your notebooks. [Written by Mohamed ZANATY and Directed by Raphaëlle AYACH]