Chicken And Fado Poem by Jan Oskar Hansen

Chicken and Fado

They eat a lot of roasted chicken with chips
in Portugal, once it was a rare food now it is eaten
with gusto most days, it is cheap and filling.
What sets Portugal apart is Fado,
I know of no other country with music that grabs
your heartstrings and makes you cry evokes
memories of yore, bitter and sweet.
I don`t know the origin of Fado but to my ears
it has a mysterious Arabic undertone.
On TV there is a "festa" from one of the many villages
in the interior of Portugal, the faces are dark brown
from the outdoor work, accordion music
is played, quick tunes the women sways and the menfolk
stay in the background drinking wine.
Here the old and the young mingle there is no drunkenness
only good humour from the land of harmony.