Yo Soy de Donde Hay Un Río
Silvio Rodriguez
I'm from Where There's a River
I'm from where there's a river
From the top of a hill
From a family with the scent
Of land, tobacco, and cold
I'm from a place with spirit
Where I spent my childhood
And when I later left
For the city and the trap
I went knowing that in Tampa
My grandfather spoke with Martí
He knew the great adventure
He knew the saddest season
He knew the pain that dresses
The waist of redemption
He knew the hardest betrayal
Then the silence, the rumor
Then the murmur, the clamor
And finally he knew the howl
And the last explosion
My grandfather knew love
That's how I know, because I want to lie down
In the same grave as him
Without prayer and without a tombstone
Bone to bone traveler
I know it like the downpour
Knows it ends at the shore
I know it like I know his chair
His knife, his bandana
And his snowy crown
Just as I know his knee
