Guitarrero viejo
Alfredo Zitarrosa
old guitar player
(Waltz)
Old, shabby and drunk guitarist,
alternate warehouse and bar musician,
where your instrument, singer and macho,
has gone to stop.
Did you know those milongas of yesteryear?
of naive music and trivial verse
or some sad tango, the kind that hurts
to the cordial lefty.
The old guitar, with damaged strings,
with ribbons that time changed color,
He sang the heroic Paysandú, remember?
already a love-pain.*
I have seen the glass of wine in the shadows
twitch your hand, not your tuning fork;
spit out the earth as if it were your destiny,
like your song.
And with a poor veteran mine,
stumbling out, both shipwrecked,
Towards the mocking peace of the morning,
without bread and without god.
* Alfredo Zitarrosa says "he sang of the heroic Paysandú, of war / or of a love-pain."
