El Pampa Rosendo

The pampa Rosendo Luna
had been born a villager.
He grew up in the shantytown,
right by the slaughterhouse.
Without even knowing sandals,
with the clothes they gave him,
and to his greater misfortune,
without the pleasure of playing,
and not even being able to go
like others to school,
because between morning and night,
he had no more time
than to work since he was a kid
in whatever came his way.

Running errands for everyone,
and gathering firewood for the fire.
Going to ask for the offal,
taking care of an old grandfather,
because he had no father and his mother...
went to town,
from house to house to wash,
to earn a few pesos.

And so, he grew up
without realizing it.
I think that behind
he left the mixed years,
with suffering.

As a young boy, early on,
they saw him selling newspapers.

Then, following some carts,
he managed to become a cattle driver.

And as a man,
the stacks in the shed of a rancher
made him sweat profusely
in long days of January.

The countryside saw him gathering,
fencing in some paddocks,
or on auction days
sorting in the lots,
or attached to a herd
he worked as a skilled laborer.

And although he could have been like everyone,
the worst, he didn't go that way,
and he never got into fights,
nor into drinking or gambling,
And not even a cop
got the pleasure of arresting him.
And without being anyone, just
the poor pampa Rosendo,
one day buried his mother,
when she went to heaven,
tired of working
and enduring suffering,
being alone in the world
in that old little ranch
that made a cross with the corner
in front of the slaughterhouse.

And there... it could be said
that here the story ended,
but it turns out that his story...
was extended, hard to believe.

Because not long ago,
a comment was heard in town:
the justice of the peace received
what they call a document,
that Mr. Rosendo Luna,
Sincerely, pampa Rosendo,
was the only one in the area
owner of a large will,
an estate with livestock,
many pesos in the bank
that, upon his death,
he left to a well-known rancher
who declared himself the father
of that sole heir.
And when called, Rosendo arrived,
without batting an eyelid,
he said to the judge: see sir,
an estate and money are useless
if what my mother went through
doesn't match that price.
I won't dirty my hands
with the assets of that rancher
who wanted to buy shame
soon after he died.
Give those cows a destination,
the same to the land and the money,
let them go to the poor
for hospitals and schools.
Today more than ever
I want to know that I will continue to be
the son of that countrywoman,
who is safe in heaven,
and who gave me this fortune
that is worth more than money:
the honesty of being a true man,
because I followed her advice.
Let's not talk about this anymore,
and let all this end,
I don't want to be Mr. Luna,
I... I am pampa Rosendo.