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When Does the Guitar Sleep?

Atahualpa Yupanqui

¿Cuando Duerme La Guitarra?

(Yo le pregunto a la noche
Cuando duerme la guitarra)
Yo que la siento rezar
Su salmo en la madrugada

Su vidalita en la tarde
Su milonga en la mañana
Su tango quemando vida
Con amor, con pena y rabia
Ay noche si me dijeras
Cuando duerme la guitarra

(Que duende tendrás vigüela
Para vivir desvelada)
Para contarnos tú pena
Solo con media palabra

Para pintar una esquina
El amor de una muchacha
Y un adiós que no se dice
Y un olvido que se agranda
Ay noche si me dijeras
Cuando duerme la guitarra

Se vuelve toda paisaje
Cuando del campo nos habla
Y en las calles de mi barrio
Bordoneando se desangra

En su madero embrujado
Caven todas las distancias
Y nos lleva noche adentro
Y nos alienta, y nos mata
Ay noche si me dijeras
Cuando duerme la guitarra

When Does the Guitar Sleep?

(I ask the night
When does the guitar sleep?)
I feel it praying
Its psalm in the early dawn

Its little song in the afternoon
Its milonga in the morning
Its tango burning life
With love, with sorrow, and rage
Oh night, if you could tell me
When does the guitar sleep?

(What spirit do you have, guitar
To stay awake all night?)
To share your pain with us
Just with half a word

To paint a corner
The love of a young girl
And a goodbye that’s never said
And a forgetfulness that grows
Oh night, if you could tell me
When does the guitar sleep?

It turns into a whole landscape
When it speaks of the countryside
And in the streets of my neighborhood
It bleeds out while strumming

In its enchanted wood
All distances vanish
And it takes us deep into the night
And it lifts us up, and it kills us
Oh night, if you could tell me
When does the guitar sleep?

Escrita por: Atahualpa Yupanqui