Compañero presidente
Ángel Parra
Comrade President
One day you decided
to walk alongside your people,
to know and respect them,
and represent them entirely.
In how many years of struggle,
of consequence and vigil
you traveled every inch
from Arica to the Strait.
They always wanted to break you
with slanders and abuses,
and you walked firmly
alongside the ranks of the people.
In the year seventy just
you waved a white handkerchief
that illuminated our homeland,
it was on Alameda, I remember.
You gave to the woman,
to the child, to the worker,
a wide and long path
for a better tomorrow.
But already from the shadows
the assassin was hiding:
they wanted you on your knees
and not standing tall.
On the eleventh very early
knowing what was happening
you were the first in the fight
with heart and gunfire.
Let me write you a poem,
beloved Salvador,
let me shout your name
from Cuzco to Bangkok.
History does not stop
neither with repression nor death;
are your last words,
comrade president.
