La Madre del Cordero

We grew up, since we were kids, together in 'El Miraor'
my father? an old farmhand, his? an administrator.
Of course, when one is a kid, they don't understand the difference.
How nice it would have been to own such tremendous innocence!
The estate, playing, we had 'explored' it all,
I almost always won because I was a bit 'bigger',
she picked flowers, I pulled her braids,
and so time passed almost without us realizing.
It was my turn to go out to the field, to 'peel the garlic',
I wasn't such a little kid anymore, I was good for work.
Of course, every afternoon we went out for a walk
and we looked at each other a lot without finding what to talk about.
I rehearsed 'everything' all day of what I was going to ask,
but when I was close, I couldn't find what to say.
I don't know what happened to me when she was by my side,
my throat tightened and I got stuck there.
One day she told me she was leaving the estate,
she was being sent to study, to the nuns, I think, to learn
how to sew, to knit, to read, 'Don Guille' had said
books are good things and you have to know what they say.
I felt a sadness when she told me she was leaving,
I gathered strength from within and told her I loved her.
She didn't say anything, she blushed,
and I stole a kiss from her own little mouth.
Time passed, a couple of years, and I never forgot about her,
at night I saw her looking at me from a star.
She also loved me, I was sure of that,
the sweet taste of her kiss had told me so.
A man, when he's a real man, I thought, must know what's going on,
I got her address from one of the housemaids.
Francisco wrote me the letter and, although I didn't get a response,
I didn't die because of that, what is good always costs.
Some time later, the estate woke up 'disturbed',
the old ladies from the big house were running around,
two heifers turned around, the young girls how they entered!
they scraped the tortillas and the 'empanadas' sizzled.
The tables were set, the place for the singers,
everything was decorated with copihues and totora leaves.
I didn't feel joy, I felt 'everything' at once,
the girl Rosa was coming back, next to me again.
Then I wanted to give up, I even thought I didn't deserve her,
but I sent the fear to hell and I gathered courage to see her.
There came my girl, lovelier than the sky itself,
with her red lips, where I had placed my kiss.
She was wearing a dress that dazzled the eyes,
Don Guille took her arm, he was overjoyed.
We went to eat, the jugs were uncovered,
the wine flowed, it was a pleasure.
Then we started dancing, the guitars tuned,
and the 'adre' heated up with the sound of the 'cuecas'.
I couldn't talk to my girl, she was very 'busy'
talking to the guests and other 'important' people.
Days later, one afternoon, while I was in the corral,
I was already thinking of forgetting her when I heard someone call me.
'Venancio!', they said, 'Beno!', and I kept looking at her,
there was my beautiful girl, crying with pure joy.
We hugged each other tightly. Had you forgotten me?
'Never!', I said, and I kissed her like I had never kissed before.
We kept meeting, she was mine to the bone
and I also loved her, even if it meant dying for it.
I have two hands, I told her, to make you happy
and she would get sad when she heard me speak.
One day Don Guille came to talk, man to man,
he said very nice things, with titles and names,
he told me to let her go, that Rosa was grown up
and that childish things should be forgotten.
Understand, Venancio, he said, that she's not from here,
she's a lady and will someday get married,
not to a farmhand, and not to belittle,
life is sad, Venancio, but what can you do.
He convinced me very well, then he let me go.
Understand well, Beno, what I'm telling you, or 'cut' to another side.
So I got into the 'tomas', the work, I thought, even if I lose it,
I fought even with the 'pacos' with a whip in hand.
Forty days drinking, dancing 'cueca' with determination,
I had saved some money for that and I'm not a 'fijao'.
'Life is sad, Venancio', that doesn't go with me,
as long as there are 'good girls', life is life, my friend.
I went from 'chincol to jote', I showed the world who's boss,
I was jailed for being a troublemaker and I drank even vinegar.
And here I am now, 'puh', with empty pockets,
without a job anywhere and with a swollen face.
And here comes the problem: I still love her.
Men, I once said, think like men and I don't recognize myself.
Rosa is mine or 'nobody's', prejudices? Screw them!
and if it's hard for Don Guille to have me as a son-in-law,
we'll have to fix this situation right away,
I don't see, for these things, the difference between 'employee' and boss.
If they come looking for me 'badly', 'well then', I'll go down fighting,
and this is already 'decided' by the only way.
When one loves 'for real', God knows it's not a slight,
I'm a hardworking man, I don't bow down to anyone,
so tonight, I'll grab my horse and gear,
I'll steal Rosa, damn it, there's the mother of the lamb!