Princesa [English translation]

I am a sheep, I am a cow

if I must choose an animal [to imitate]

I am the female with an open shirt

small tits to suckle on.

Under the eyelashes of these trees

in the chiaroscuro where I was born

the horizon before the sky

was my mother's gaze.

"Because Fernandinho is like a daughter,

he brings me coffee and tapioca in bed

and to remind him that he was born male

his instinct and life will do."

And I, in front of a large mirror

I cover my his eyes with my fingers

to visualize between my legs

a tiny pussy.

Half-asleep in the bus

I abandon my country childhood

I run to the auction of desires

I'm going to rectify my fate.

In the kitchen of the guesthouse

I mix dreams with hormones

At dawn, magic will rise

it will the miracle of breasts.

Because Fernanda truly is a daughter

and wants to make love as a daughter

but Fernandinho fights on and throws up

and writhes in pain.

Then the scalpel for breasts and hips

in a vertigo of anesthesia

until my body resembles me

on the promenade in Bahia.

A smile as tender as green leaves

I pull my fingers out of their hair

when cars flash their headlights

on the stage of my life.

Where in a tangle of desire

a man clings to my buttocks

within my flesh, between my lips or labia

one man slips, another one succumbs.

Because Fernandinho died in my womb

Fernanda is a silk doll

they are the embers of a single star

that shines with light and is called Princesa.

To a lawyer from Milan

now Princesa gives her heart

and an unrepentant walk

in the shadows of a balcony.

the forest

the sky

the path

the school

the church

the shame

the skirt

the nail polish

the mirror

the lipstick

the fear

the road

the fitter

the vertigo

the charm

the magic

the cars

the police

the tiredness

the dignity

the fiancè

the minion

the gentleman

the swine

the bad luck

the drunkenness

the beating

the caresses

the failure

the disgust

the beauty

life.

• Artist:Fabrizio De André
• Album:Anime salve (1996)