Así Es La Libertad (Milonga)

With my reason or without it, pushing aside anyone who opposes
I’ll keep going, no matter what, without straying from the path
Because it doesn’t faze me to get lost in solitude
To sink into the vastness at a slow, calm pace
Because the edge that cuts my freedom hasn’t been made yet

I think and act with purpose, not caring what anyone thinks
My freedom isn’t cattle that’s sold to the highest bidder
Offer what you want, it’s no bluff, take it however you like
My freedom isn’t a gate open to the first boss
For a free man, there’s no master but his mother and his flag

For me, there’s no leader who can bend my conscience
As a sign of obedience, I only kneel before God
A man who pulls a knife and charges into danger
And supports freedom with his faith and his rights
Is like a mother nursing a child with native blood

Blood whose clots are medals earned
In a thousand glorious battles and many revolutions
My ideals and feelings won’t be pushed around
There’s no room for a coward in a mess, for a punk
Learn to be free, man, by listening to the wind roar

Freedom must be carried with honor, with integrity
That is... With the pride that one earned it
To those who can’t protect it, it’ll be taken away tomorrow
Freedom is sovereign when a man is of the law
Freedom isn’t a bull that responds to a cattle prod

Nor is it a beating dealt to the ribs
Nor a hinge on the knees nor a bend in the spine
Freedom is the trumpet blast of victory in the fight
It’s a flag waving at the top of a pole
It’s a wild horse that kicks or an eagle that flaps its wings

It’s also a fruitful cut in the native cement workers
A Phrygian cap in the laborers symbolizing work
It’s the fist of a clapper slapping a bell
That goes proclaiming, proudly, that in this Argentine land
Freedom isn’t a tip, it’s only earned through fighting

That’s how freedom is, it’s the call in our anthem
Shield, banner, sign, of our Argentine identity
Holy word, truth, revered by the free
A bonfire whose flames no despot has extinguished
An inheritance left to us by our Saint of the Sword