Puente

Havana
Always in halves
So half Spanish, so half African
The waves know well that in every window there's always a witness
Havana
Those who know swear they know nothing to understand yours

Havana
Those who know swear they know nothing to understand yours

Havana
So close and so far like those mirrors that reflect nothing
Some to the blockade, others to a sled that never saw snow
Havana
Not even God or the six hundred saints can understand yours

While Florida, like that aunt who went elsewhere
Sits missing you in the coincidences of Hialeah
And I, who have no stake in this burial, die of sorrow
For not playing the magician and building a ninety-mile bridge
So the cousins can run to embrace each other as they deserve
And ideology doesn't meddle in what doesn't concern it
Because history is long, and life is short

There's a Cuban in Havana, selling forbidden cigars
So many dreams have stayed in bed asleep
A Cuban in Havana, who invents futures
Blocked American-style, cyanide to the enemy
A Cuban in Havana
A Cuban in Havana
Who's not guilty of anything

There's a Cuban in Miami, grudges by tradition
South Beach is his Varadero, Ocean Drive his Malecon
A Cuban in Miami, third generation
Talking about asere and consort with the same song
A Cuban in Miami
A Cuban in Miami
Who's not guilty of anything

Let the feet of those who pursue Florida dry up
Let others wash their hands with diplomacy soap
Neither the blockade is a remedy nor clinging is the measure
When pride rules, disaster always reigns

Bridge
We should build a bridge
To unite so many people
In the midst of the conflict that has lived and lives
People

Bridge
We should build a bridge
To unite so many people
Perhaps diplomacy hasn't known how to build a bridge

Time is wearing out the hourglass while waiting so long

Let's build a bridge, a brotherly bridge
Let's all unite with this tumba'o
In Pinar del Río they plant under the sun
Tobacco against the cold, salsa with baseball

Let's build a bridge, a brotherly bridge
Let's all unite with this tumba'o
How easily the blockade sees it, a yuppie in the office
Sundays diving, snack by the pool

Let's build a bridge, a brotherly bridge
Let's all unite with this tumba'o
The curtains fell, the Cold War died
The Kremlin is already in ruins, who wants more thorns?

Let's build a bridge, a brotherly bridge
Let's all unite with this tumba'o
Guaracha Cuban style with Celia and Van Van
Traces of Havana in London or Milan

There are sounds of Havana
Throughout the city
Coral Gables, Hialeah
Calle 8, Lincoln Road
Cubans who secretly
Miss the other shore
Baracoa, Santiago, Pinar del Río
Camagüey, Matanzas, Varadero
And there in old Havana
Vedado Miramar
Traces of nostalgia
For someone who left

Cubans of the world with syncopated accents
In Rome or Budapest
Playing tunes from the past
In D.F. or Key West
The clave, the swing
The curves of a woman

No one wins the battle
Everyone loses, that's how it is
Politics is far from Juan
María, Luis, Humberto, Lupe
No matter where they live
Whether here or there on the other shore
They live, they feel
The measures are for people
Not for concrete walls
History is a suicide
That revives years later

There are no sides here, only brothers
If they want me as a witness
I'll say I didn't understand
As that friend told me
Walking along the Malecon
I'm not fit to be an enemy
And I surrendered long ago

Let's build a bridge
Let's build a bridge
Let's build a bridge
Let all hands unite
And time heal wounds
That grudge cannot