Y Arriba Quemando El Sol

When I went to the pampas
I carried my heart content
like a chirigüe,
but there it died on me,
first I lost my feathers
and then I lost my voice,
and up burning the sun.

When I saw the miners
inside their room
I said to myself: it's better to live
in its shell like a snail,
or in the shadow of the laws
the refined thief,
and up burning the sun.

The rows of shacks,
face to face, yes, sir,
the rows of women
in front of the only water pump,
each one with her bucket
and her face of affliction,
and up burning the sun.

We went to the store
to buy the ration,
twenty items don't count
the mandatory discount,
with the empty basket
we returned to the inn,
and up burning the sun.

Dry zone of the pampas
written on a sign,
however, bottles of liquor
come and go,
of course they are not for the poor,
smuggling or what do I know,
and up burning the sun.

I pass by a dead town
my heart clouds over,
even where people live
death is much worse,
they buried justice,
they buried reason,
and up burning the sun.

If someone says I dream
tales of exaggeration,
I say this happens in Chuqui
but in Santa Juana it's worse,
the miner no longer knows
the worth of his sweat,
and up burning the sun.

I returned to Santiago
without understanding the color
with which they paint the news
when the poor say no,
below, the dark night,
gold, saltpeter, and coal,
and up burning the sun.