Pedro Pedreiro Parou de Esperar

I walked around the world with nothing
I relied on the poorest of the poor class
What a winner... I'm not here to compete
Who said life is a competition?
Then husband competes with wife, neighbor with neighbor
brother with brother, colleague with colleague
And in this competitive society
My defeat is my victory!

I was born poor, from the slums, without manners or godmother
I saw my father rape my mother, high on flour
Early on I went out into the world, to rob, to collect cans
There was blood in my eyes because anger suited me

I grew up on the street and saw the raw cruelty of the animal
I made my bed out of cement and my clothesline out of bars
Deprived and excluded in the literal sense
Less fit according to the social Darwinist

At twenty luck came in a miraculous shelter
Where I learned letters and the trade of a bricklayer
I woke up still dark, in agony for money
I didn't expect the ultimate relief from the future

I built a mall where I never strolled
Buildings and schools where I never studied

Next to Mariléia I formed a family
And the love I never had, I saw in my daughter's eyes
In the competitive sea my home was an island
Until one day misfortune crossed my path

Black-shinned and armored vehicles invading the slum
Shouting, moto-taxis, confrontation in the alley
A man with strong arms like a Benguela slave
Agonizing in my arms, shot in the rib

All my life and what I had seen until then
Made sense in the words of this old man
Victims and executioners, we all are, we all are
In the burning metropolises, brother against brother

I no longer wait for death, nor the north nor the train
My name is Pedro, and you are me too