Translation of the song A Volta da Asa Branca artist Gilberto Gil

Já faz três noites

Over these last three nights

Que pro norte relampeia

there's been lightning up north .

A asa branca

The white winged dove

Ouvindo o ronco do trovão

has heard the rumbling storm

Já bateu asas

and, beating its wings,

E voltou pro meu sertão

has flown back to the Sertão

Ai, ai eu vou me embora

¡Oh! I´m leaving right now:

Vou cuidar da prantação

I'll take care of the crop.

A seca fez eu desertar da minha terra

The drought made me desert my native land

Mas felizmente Deus agora se alembrou

But, luckily, God has now remembered

De mandar chuva

to send the rain

Pr'esse sertão sofredor

to that long-suffering and hardy Sertão:

Sertão das muié séria

the Sertão, a land of honest women

Dos homes trabaiador

and hard-working men

Rios correndo

The rivers flow:

As cachoeira tão zoando

the waterfalls are gurgling,

Terra moiada

the earth is damp,

Mato verde, que riqueza

the forest green. ¡What an abundance!

E a asa branca

And the white wing dove

Tarde canta, que beleza

sings until late in the evening. ¡It's so wonderful!

Ai, ai, o povo alegre

Oh, the people is happy

Mais alegre a natureza

and nature even happier.

Sentindo a chuva

As I hear the rain

Eu me arrescordo de Rosinha

Rosinha comes to mi mind:

A linda flor

she's the pretty flower

Do meu sertão pernambucano

from this Sertão in Pernambuco.

E se a safra

And if a bad harvest

Não atrapaiá meus pranos

doesn't hamper my plans,

Que que há, o seu vigário

whatever may happen, Father,

Vou casar no fim do ano.

I'll get married at the end of this year.