The National Anthem of Honduras
The “National Anthem of Honduras” (Spanish Himno Nacional de Honduras) was adopted under presidential decree 42 in 1915. The lyrics were written by Augusto Constancio Coello and the music composed by Carlos Hartling. In its entirety, the anthem is a brief chronology of Honduran history. The anthem consists of the chorus and seven verses. But, for official acts, only the chorus and the seventh are sung. The chorus, which is sung before and after the seventh verse, is a description of Honduras’ chief national symbols, the flag and the coat of arms. The eighth verse is a patriotic call to duty to Hondurans to defend the flag and the nation. By the time Hondurans complete their sixth year of elementary education, they will have memorized and been taught the meaning of all eight verses. Unofficially, the anthem is sometimes called “Tu bandera es un lampo de cielo” (Spanish for “Your flag is a splendor of sky”) which is also the first line of the chorus.
Lyrics
Spanish
Coro
Tu bandera es un lampo de cielo
Por un bloque de nieve cruzado;
Y se ven en su fondo sagrado
Cinco estrellas de pálido azul;
En tu emblema, que mar rumoroso
Con sus ondas bravías escuda,
De un volcán tras la cima desnuda
Hay un astro de nítida luz.
Estrofa I
India virgen y hermosa dormías
De tus mares al canto sonoro,
Cuando echada en tus cuencas de oro
El audaz navegante te halló;
Y al mirar tu belleza extasiado
Al influjo ideal de tu encanto,
La orla azul de tu espléndido manto
Con su beso de amor consagró.
Estrofa II
De un país donde el sol se levanta,
Mas allá del Atlante azulado,
Aquel hombre te había soñado
Y en tu busca a la mar se lanzó.
Cuando erguiste la pálida frente,
En la viva ansiedad de tu anhelo,
Bajo el dombo gentil de tu cielo
Ya flotaba un extraño pendón.
Estrofa III
Era inutil que el indio tu amado
Se aprestara a la lucha con ira,
Porque envuelto en su sangre Lempira,
En la noche profunda se hundió;
Y de la épica hazaña, en memoria,
La leyenda tan sólo ha guardado
De un sepulcro el lugar ignorado
Y el severo perfil de un peñón.
Estrofa IV
Por tres siglos tus hijos oyeron
El mandato imperioso del amo;
Por tres siglos tu inútil reclamo
En la atmosfera azul se perdió;
Pero un día gloria tu oído
Percibió, poderoso y distante,
Que allá lejos, por sobre el Atlante,
Indignado rugía un León.
Estrofa V
Era Francia, la libre, la heroica,
Que en su sueño de siglos dormida
Despertaba iracunda a la vida
Al reclamo viril de Dantón:
Era Francia, que enviaba a la muerte
La cabeza del Rey consagrado,
Y que alzaba soberbia a su lado,
El Altar de la Diosa razón.
Estrofa VI
Tú también, ¡oh mi patria!, te alzaste
De tu sueño servil y profundo;
Tú también enseñastes al mundo
Destrozado el infame eslabón.
Y en tu suelo bendito, tras la alta
Cabellera del monte salvaje,
Como un ave de negro plumaje,
La colonia fugaz se perdió
Estrofa VII
Por guardar ese emblema divino,
Marcharemos !Oh Patria a la muerte,
Generosa será nuestra suerte,
Si morimos pensando en tu amor.
Defendiendo tu santa bandera
Y en tus pliegues gloriosos cubiertos,
Serán muchos, Honduras tus muertos,
Pero todos caerán con honor.
English translation
[Chorus]
Your flag is a splendor of sky
Crossed with a band of snow;
And there can be seen, in its sacred depths,
Five pale blue stars.
In your emblem, which a rough sea
With its wild waves protects,
Behind the bare summit of a volcano,
There is a star of clean light.
Verse I
Indian maiden, virgin and beautiful you slept,
Of your seas to the resonant song,
When lying in your valleys of gold,
The bold navigator found you;
And on seeing your enrapturing beauty,
To the inflowing ideal of your enchantment,
The blue hem of your splendid mantle
With your kiss of blessed love.
Verse II
From a country where the sun rises,
Beyond the blue Atlantic,
That man who had dreamt you
In search of you he launched to sea.
When he sighted your pale forehead,
In the lively anxiousness of your hope,
Under the gentle breeze of your sky
Already floated a strange buoy.
Verse III
It was useless that your beloved Indian
Rushed into the fight with anger,
Because, covered with his blood, Lempira,
In the deep night he sank;
And of the heroic deed, in memory,
The legend alone has kept
A sepulcher in a forgotten place,
And the severe profile of a mountain peak.
Verse IV
For three centuries your children heard
The glorious mandate of the master;
For three centuries your useless complaint
In the blue atmosphere was lost
But one glorious day your ear
Perceived, powerful and distant,
That there, far away, over the Atlantic,
Indignantly, a lion roared
Verse V
It was France, the free, the heroic,
Which in its dreams of centuries slept,
Awoke irate to life
At the virile protest of Danton:
It was France, who sent to the death
The head of the consecrated King,
And which built up proudly at its side,
The altar of the goddess of Reason.
Verse VI
You also, oh my country!, arose
From your servile deep sleep;
You also showed the world
Destroying the infamous shackle.
And in your blessed soil, behind the tall
Hair of the wild jungle,
Like a bird of black feathers,
The fleeting colony was lost.
Verse VII
To guard this divine emblem
We shall march, oh fatherland, to the death;
Our luck will be generous
If we die thinking of your love.
Defending your holy flag,
And shrouded in its glorious folds,
There will be many, Honduras, your dead,
But all shall fall with honor.
Motto: “Libre Soberana e Independiente” (Spanish)
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