Milonga Para Una Niña

Whoever's lived in pain
because of a bad love,
finds nothing better
than to sing and think it through.
And if they were calculating*
what fault they might have had,
when they see that the woman
knows no obligations,
they find comfort in songs
and forget how to love.**

So, girl, I ask you
not to hold a grudge,
I can't give you love
and you can't give me forgetfulness.
I know that in any slip-up
I’d end up flat on the ground
and even if you offer comfort
I can't accept it.***
I can teach you to fly,
but I can't follow your flight.

I can't give you
a dimmed heart,
when the one next to it fails,
there's nothing left to talk about.
There's a way to love
that’s a matter of conscience,
there's a love that’s patience
and another that’s just sweet talk.
What love could I give
whoever loved your innocence?

When I see you again
we can smile at each other,
I’d rather see you leave
like I saw you arrive.
When you think again
that once I knew you
and just because I felt like it
I wrote you a song,
it will sing in your heart
of the little I gave you.