When in the morning the night
Loses out to the day
And when the first sunbeam
Strangles the last dusk
Then I wake up
In the trench where I sleep

The foreign workers are coming and I have to leave
Otherwise they will report me
So I just crawl out and clean off the dirt
As best as I can
So I get up
In the trench where I sleep

I have not shaved nor washed myself
For ten days
And I have nothing but a bottle of rum
In my coat pocket
I drink it for breakfast and then
I scrounge off a cigarette from somebody -
And a shilling

And people are coming towards me
Like a wall they are approaching me
It seems to me I'm the only one who's coming up to meet them (other possible meaning: who doesn't go in their direction)
But I pull myself together and at the first step
I close my eyes

It does not matter
If I work or not
Because for the thin monastery soup
It's enough if I pray
Leave me alone
Because today they fill up my trench