El Mayor
Silvio Rodriguez
The Greatest
Man has always been
Made of all material
From manors
Or marginal neighborhoods
Every era was a piece
Of a puzzle
To climb the hill
Of the great animal kingdom
With one black hand
And another deadly white
Mortal ingredients
Shaped the greatest
Light of landowners
And of revolution
Fencing skill
Events like a prisoner
Amalia abandoned
By the bullet, the shame
Love. Or an execution
An old tale shaped his farewell
He rides
The greatest with his wound
And the more deadly
The cut, the more alive
He rides
On a written palm
And in the distance
A hundred years resurrects
He trots on the foam
Followed by a sea
Of blacks with machetes
And without chains he orders his bugle
A call to slaughter and a century away
He sings our song with a strong throat
Singing, he scares away the curse
He rides
