| Si no fuera porque hice colocado | Had I not staked my fate with careful hand, |
| El camino de tu espera | Upon the path where your anticipation lingers, |
| Me habría desconectado; | I’d have vanished, spirit untethered and unmanned; |
| Condenado a mirarte desde fuera | Condemned to watch you through the icy windows, fingers |
| Y dejar que te tocara el sol | Letting the sunlight claim your skin, |
| Y si fuera mi vida una escalera | And if my life were fashioned as a stair, |
| Me la he pasao' entera | I have spent it wholly within |
| Buscando el siguiente escalon | Hunting the next ascending air— |
| Convencido que estás en el tejado | Certain you dwell atop the shingled night, |
| Esperando a ver si llego yo | Awaiting to see if at last I appear, |
| Y dejar de lado la vereda de la puerta de atrás | And to leave behind the footpath winding past the rear |
| Por donde te vi marchar | By which I saw you turn from sight, |
| Como una regadera que la hierba hace que vuelva a brotar | Like a watering can that, lavish and wild, makes grass awake anew— |
| Y ahora todo es campo ya… | And now all is meadow, the earth’s face unfiled… |
| Sus soldados son flores de madera | His soldiers: flowers hewn of wood, |
| Y mi ejército no tiene bandera, es sólo un corazón | And my own host bears no colors, only the bitter pulse of blood; |
| Condenado a vivir entre maleza | Condemned to dwell amidst thistle and bramble’s snare, |
| Sembrando flores de algodón | Sowing small, silken cottons into the tainted air, |
| Si me espera la muerte traicionera | If treacherous death crouches to seize my breath, |
| Y antes de repartirme del todo me veo en un cajón | And before I am given to darkness, I see a chest— |
| Que me entierren con la picha por fuera | Let them inter me with my sex exposed, |
| Pa' que se la coma un ratón | So a mouse may gnaw what once composed; |
| Y muere a todas horas gente dentro de mi televisor | And at all hours, men and women perish in my flickering screen, |
| Quiero oír alguna canción | I long to hear a song, not cruel, not mean, |
| Que no hable de sandeces y que diga que no sobra el amor | That will not trade in trifles—only avow no surplus of love’s domain, |
| Y que empiece en sí, no en no | And begins with yes, never with no’s refrain; |
| Y dejar de lado la vereda de la puerta de atrás | And to leave behind the footpath winding past the rear |
| Por donde te vi marchar | By which I saw you turn from sight, |
| Como una regadera que la hierba hace que vuelva a brotar | Like a watering can that, lavish and wild, makes grass awake anew— |
| Y ahora todo es campo ya… | And now all is meadow, the earth’s face unfiled… |
| Dices que a veces no comprendes qué dice mi voz | You say at times my voice eludes your sense, a cipher lost, |
| Cómo quieres que esté dentro de tu ombligo | How do you wish me nestled within your navel’s delicate frost, |
| Si entre los dedos se me escapa volando una flor | When, between my fingers, a blossom escapes and soars— |
| Y ella solita va marcando el camino | And she alone traces where the future pours. |
| Dices que a veces no comprendes qué dice mi voz | You say at times my voice eludes your sense, a cipher lost, |
| Cómo quieres que yo sepa lo que digo | How can I fathom what my tongue has cost, |
| Si entre los dedos se me escapa volando una flor | If between my fingers, a blossom slips airbound and far, |
| Y yo la dejo que me marque el camino… | And I let her chart my way, as vagrant as a star… |