Lacreme napulitane [English translation]

My dear mother,

The Christmas is approaching

And to be so far away hurts so much!

How I would like to light some Bengal lights!

How I would like to hear a bagpiper!

Make the Nativity scene for my children

And put my plate on the table!

Make Christmas Eve

As if I'm also here among you!

How many tears this America costs us,

Neapolitans!

For us, who long for the sky of Naples,

How bitter is this bread!

My dear mother,

What is, what is money?

For a man, who longs for motherland, it's nothing!

Now I have some dollars but it seems to me

That I have never been so poor.

Every night I dream my house

And I hear the voices of my children,

And I dream of you as the Virgin Mary

With swords in breast, in front of her crucified son.

How many tears this America costs us,

Neapolitans!

For us, who long for the sky of Naples,

How bitter is this bread!

You have written me

That Assuntina calls

Who has left her and still stays far away.

What can I say? If my children need their mom,

Make this "lady" come back!

I don't come back, I stay here

And I stay for working for you all.

I've lost the motherland, house and honor,

I'm a sacrifice, I'm an emigrant!

How many tears this America costs us,

Neapolitans!

For us, who long for the sky of Naples,

How bitter is this bread!

• Artist:Roberto Murolo