De Tanto Dir Y Venir
Atahualpa Yupanqui
From So Much Going Back and Forth
From so much going back and forth
I left my mark in the field
For those who walked after me
It was an easy path
In endless wanderings
I was the grass being trampled
I scraped my poncho on the thorns
I got hurt by prickly thistles
Footprints don’t just appear
Nor just by stepping on the ground
You have to roam through the dawns
Mature in dreams and tears
Wind of unjust sands
Covered my tracks
What was once a clear path
Got choked with thorns and mud
It seems like nothing happened
If you look without really seeing
Everything is a confusing thicket
But my mark is still beneath
The path is uneven
Today I walk rough trails
I step on the thorn that hurts
But my mark is still beneath
Maybe one day it will be cleared
By those who dream while walking
I’ll give them, from afar
My heart as a gift
