Poem for the English to see (Poema para Inglês ver)

POEM FOR THE ENGLISH TO SEE

(Poema para Inglês ver)

You know, my friend, you certainly do!...

Our countries have something in common in the Guinness.

I mean the world’s oldest diplomatic allegiance.

Which dates back to the war of Aljubarrota, fought against Castela!

You also know that since then not everything has been a bed of roses.

There have been clever opportunistic men in this country,

Wanting to connect Angola and Mozambique

And they called it the pink map.

Your ultimatum called them to reason and put an end to their plan

(no wonder, you owned the world’s biggest Empire!)

That Allegiance and the African colonies forced us into a World War

Against the German expansion,

Taking the lives of 10.000 Portuguese citizens.

Putting that aside and forgetting the competition for global economic interests.

Today, there’s the sun and the beaches in the Algarve,

The tourism and hotel business,

In the most representative Portuguese places,

Nightlife, beer, plenty of beer and football!

Perhaps I didn’t like you that much…

And I criticized you, I called you conservative for keeping the pound.

 Damn… you surely were right!

Bragança, 17 de junho de 2012

Jorge Nuno