O Cordel Estradeiro

The blessing of Manoel Chudu
My roadside cordel
Comes to ask for permission
To become true

To become a messenger
Of the strength of your thunder
And the wings of the leafcutter ant
To make the backlands fly

My crowned moxotó
Of thorny pear cactus
Where the rattlesnake naps
In the mouth of the cangaceiro

I too am a cangaceiro
And my roadside cordel
Is a powerful rattlesnake
Is rain falling gently
Watering the hot land
Raising a veil of dust
Leaving the evening fragrant

It's a plant covering the ground
At the first thunderstorm
The night that descends cold
After the wet afternoon

It's desperate drought
Ripping the belly of the land

It's winter and it's summer

It's the song of the washerwoman
The fishmonger of Lampião
The lights of the firefly
The porch of the mansion
The gourd of the old blind man
The yard of binding spells
The branch of the prayer woman
The homesick feeling at the end of the market
The truck's window

You who are in the palace
Come listen to my poor pine
It doesn't have the smell of wine
From the fresh grapes of Lácio
But it has the color of Inácio
From the Catingueira mountain range
A top-notch singer
Who never went to school*

For my verse is made like the sickle
Of the cassock cutting sugar cane
When from top to bottom
It cuts and sweeps
When from bottom to top
It flies off the handle and goes wild**