I know very well that life here is hard
But the solution is not to emigrate, to go and risk your life
On the sea’s mighty waves and suffering the captain’s wrath:
And if you arrive safe and sound, you can give thanks to God!
Let me work, I want to stay here
I don’t need a passport,
I already have all the documents I need:
My hoe, my hammer and my two arms.
Don’t force me to leave,
You can’t raise children in a nest deserted by their father.
My father wrote to advise me
To get together the necessary papers
But my heart has already said no to the option of leaving.
On the other hand, I cannot stay here, toing and froing,
Looking for work that is impossible to find
and an imaginary little house to live in.
Give me some work, just enough to earn my daily bread,
The little we have here is already a great deal
The fortune that is meant to be waiting for us elsewhere is nothing
but a dream.
Don’t make me leave,
You can’t raise children in a nest deserted by their father.