| Yo no sé lo que me pasa | I cannot fathom whence this spell is cast upon me, |
| Pa la gente de mi casa | To the eyes within my household, |
| Que me he echao a perder | I am the garden left untended, gone to seed. |
| Yo no sé lo que me pasa | I cannot fathom whence this spell is cast upon me, |
| Pa la gente de mi casa | To the eyes within my household, |
| Que me he echao a perder | I am the garden left untended, gone to seed. |
| Por lo visto lo que hago | So it seems that all I fashion |
| Es toíto lo contrario | Is the mirror’s opposite, |
| De lo que debiera hacer… | A shadow play of what I ought to be… |
| Cuando voy a los reuniones | When I drift to gatherings |
| De fiambreras de colores | Where colored tins parade like paper lanterns, |
| Suscito la compasión | I rouse the tender ache of pity |
| Y entre charlas de recetas mis amigas me comentan | And between simmering tales of sauces, my friends remark— |
| Que se me pasa el arroz | My chance, like rice, grows overdone and wasted. |
| Que si guapa, que si lista | Though fair, though bright, they claim— |
| Que me voy a poner muy vista | I shall be worn thin as a coin passed hand to hand. |
| Cuándo voy a entrar en razón | When will wisdom take me by the wrist? |
| Pero no saben que yo | Yet they know not that I |
| Soy suspiro que en el aire va flotando | Am a sigh loosed to wander in the currents of air, |
| Que se escapa de las manos | Escaping fingers, slipping through the mesh of hands, |
| Y a la suerte de los vientos | And to the lot the winds decree |
| Voy navegando | I drift, a vessel on invisible seas. |
| A mí me mueve el aire | Air is the unseen harpist who sets me in motion, |
| El aire me mueve a mí | It is air that leads my dance. |
| No me merece la pena | Blessings weigh nothing to me, |
| Que por santa ni buena | Neither for sanctity nor for virtue |
| Se me dé la bendición | Do I crave the laying on of hands. |
| Hago lo que se me antoja | I yield to the whim that beckons in the moment; |
| Y me aburro si me tocan siempre la misma canción | Weariness coils in me if I am fed the same old tune. |
| Que si hago, si no hago | Should I act, should I refrain— |
| Que si entro, que si salgo | Should I enter, should I leave— |
| Siempre el mismo culebrón | It is the same old tale, wound round and round. |
| Pero no saben que yo | Yet they know not that I |
| Soy suspiro que en el aire va flotando | Am a sigh loosed to wander in the currents of air, |
| Que se escapa de las manos | Escaping fingers, slipping through the mesh of hands, |
| Y a la suerte de los vientos voy navegando | And at the mercy of the wind’s design, I voyage on. |
| A mí me mueve el aire, el aire me mueve a mí | The air stirs me, the air is my consort and my guide, |
| A mí, a mí, a mí me mueve el aire | It is air—air—air that moves me. |
| Cuando voy falta de amores | When love’s well runs shallow and dry |
| Lanzo a discreción un guiño | I let fly a wink, as one tosses a coin into the unknown, |
| Pongo boca de piñón | Shape my lips like a promise, small and almond-sweet, |
| Y me sobran los cariños | And warmth overflows, too much for a single palm. |
| No le temo al rencor | I do not tremble at the taste of spite, |
| Ni a la envidia | Nor at envy’s ice, |
| Ni al temor | Nor at fear’s pale shadow, |
| Ni a las ganas de dejar de ser quien soy | Nor at the urge to cease becoming what I am. |
| ¡Que me dejen a mi aire, que yo sé por dónde voy! | Let me follow my own breath, for the paths are clear before me! |
| ¡Que me dejen a mi aire, que yo sé por dónde voy! | Let me follow my own breath, for the paths are clear before me! |