El bandoler
Lluís Llach
The bandit
It was the 19th century
with the name of Joan Serra
a bandit is known
everywhere in Lapera.
He liked blood
and the cypress still remembers
all the cries that have been prayed there:
Mercy, mercy!
-Don't kill me,
I have two children and a wife,
I'll give you all my money,
but don't stab me with that dagger.
-Don't kill me,
I ask you for my mother!
-Recite the last 'I believe in God'
-Mercy, mercy!
The next morning at dawn,
in front of the Virgin of Carme,
he is praying on his knees,
and lights two candles.
But again comes out of the woods
a moan that the wind scatters
and the executioner will not listen:
Mercy, mercy!
But, Joan Serra,
today luck has failed you,
two soldiers have taken you firmly
and now you are behind bars.
The next morning at dawn,
he sees the gallows prepared,
in Lapera he shouts,
it's the last prayer.
-When I am dead,
and hanging from the high gallows
and my heart faints
and you go to put me in the grave,
let someone say a prayer
in front of the Virgin of Carme
and let two candles have flame.
