A fadista [English translation]

A black belted dress

Long black hair

And a black embroidered shawl

Walking up the avenue at night

Those passing by consider her lost

A woman of vice and sin

Being misunderstood

Insulted and persecuted

Accustomed to being invited

She enters the café cantante

Then in a provocative tone

For those who want to buy it

A guitar trilling

A shadow slowly

Advances to the middle of the room

She begins to sing

And those who wanted to buy it

Sit at the table looking at her

A song old and so deep

That comes from the ends of the earth

Is rushed before an announcement

And all who heard it

In the candlelight seemed

Devoted in prayer

And those who offended her a little

Listened with closed eyes

As if asking her forgiveness

A black belted dress

Long black hair

And a black embroidered shawl

Singing for that table

She gives them the assurance

That they are already forgiven

And in front of her on the table

As if in prayer to a goddess

The fado is heard in silence