"When I die may
I be buried
at the clearing’s
edge
happy with my
land
weary of warring
with swollen
heart
I lie"
(Guimarães Rosa)

Ramble here
Ramble there
End of fair, beyond the city’s rim
The city dwells no more in me
Francisco, Serafim
Let’s get away
See the grass
See the baobab
Let’s go and see the blossoming fields
And spawning shoals leaping upstream
Binho, Bel, Bia, Quim
Let’s get away
When I die
Weary of war
I die at one
With my land:
Sugar-cane and persimmon
Yam and pumpkin
Where once the wind sewed
Only open nation, backlands without end
Oh Manuel, Miguilim
Let’s get away

1 Editor’s note: The song translated here, with the author's permission, was recorded by Chico to accompany the exhibition Terra, by Sebastião Salgado. The song "Settlement" is also the sound track of the film O sonho de Rose/ Rose’s dream (1996), by the Brazilian director Tetê Morais.