Violeta Ausente
Violeta Parra
Absent Violet
Why did I leave Chile
when I was so well there?
Now I walk in foreign lands,
oh, singing as if sorrowful.
I have a thorn in my chest
that pierces me incessantly
in my suffering heart,
oh, for my Chilean land.
I want to dance cueca,
I want to drink chicha,
go to the market
and buy myself a pequén.
Go through Matucana
and stroll through the fifth
and to Santa Lucía
with you, my dear.
Before leaving Chile
I didn't understand
the value of being Chilean:
oh, now I do.
Just as my eyes cry
when singing this song,
oh, so does my guitar
sadly cry the bass string.
How far away is my Chile,
far away my other half,
how far away my eight siblings,
oh, my friend and my mom.
It seems like a century
since I knew nothing of Chile,
that's why I write this letter,
oh, I send it from here to there.
