Lamento de La Urpillita
Los Hermanos Toledo
Lament of the Little Urpilla
With a sorrowful accent
And in the form of a prayer
The ancient little urpilla
Lives exhaling a lament
Next to the aged mortar
Of some provincial ranch
The pitiful echo is heard
Like a distant lament
Because of the pain that stirs her
Perhaps an ancestral drama
The urpilla cries and cries
On a pine branch
Someone says she cries
When a boy is born
Others claim she pleads
To the virgin for forgiveness
Her cooing when she lulls
Reflects deep unease
As if she wanted to tell us
The bitterness of her complaint
Only God knows until when
This innocent little bird
Will have to go on lamenting
The bitterness of her troubles
Next to the loving nest
And in the fork of a cactus
She cries, prepared
For the fury of a cyclone
Someone says she cries
When a boy is born
Others claim she pleads
To the virgin for forgiveness
