La Carreta y El Camión

The Cart and The Truck

Today that I live abandoned
In a solitary corner
This is what the cart thinks
Our Creole cart, right?

Today that I live abandoned
In a solitary corner
Today that I look at the truck
On those beloved routes
Today that I have nothing left
Not even a speck on my wheel

Today that only the shadow
Of my frame remains
I want to give the truck
What the years have given me

I know the whole country
In my infinite rolling
I know what it's like
To struggle in mud and dust
I have creaked on the hills
Seeking the horizons
I was a worm in the mountains
And a butterfly in the plains
I crossed nights and mysteries
Like Charon's boat

If you see a ranch as you pass by
And a countryman looks at you from there
With a friendly gesture
You must greet him
It's the essence of good traveling

Show yourself well-mannered
And if there's mud on your wheel
Because of a downpour
Make sure your heart
Doesn't get muddy

If in that hard journey
You see someone on the roadside
Do him a favor
It's like a light in the dark
In my times, I swear

Without bothering with questions
I unhitched the yokes
Without looking at brands or hair
The road is like a sky
Where the good ones gather

It's clear that there's disappointment
Because we're not perfect
Friend, defects
Are evils that last for years
I also suffered from the harm
Of not living boastfully

But buddy, think
That in the end the best wins
The cunning loses honor
And the good ones keep going
Cart driver and truck driver
Both travel the same path
The same star points them the way
Don't become a show-off

The one with glasses and a jacket
And don't imitate those from outside
In the way of dressing
Imitate the Creole feeling
Of those who wore a poncho
Let no one be offended
If I advise as I feel
A man is worth by what's inside
What's outside is borrowed
With money that's been gathered

Don't feel like a mountain range
Because in the road life
He who thinks he's very big
Stands next to the Andes
And is just an ordinary dwarf

Although you live among the noises
Of engines and gears
Don't commit the outrage
Of speaking loudly
Put your full attention
In what you're talking about

And if something is making you happy
Laugh, because laughter is life
But there are laughs
That sound like horses neighing

If you like to take care of it
And lubricate the truck
Think that you must also oil
Your heart
You must treat it carefully

And fill it with beauties
If there are some sorrows
That defeat you or scare you
Illuminate it so it sings
And you'll lift your head

Singing is like a bud
Child of the long road
If your song is Argentine
You'll feel more Creole
The verse has a thousand twists
That sometimes cut through the winds
And sometimes like attempts
Without even singing
It must be inside you
Sweetening your moment

I advise on the occasion
To the brother truck driver
Like the workers of old
With a different disposition
I return to my corner

Where time pushed me
I'm a cart that traced
Among the thistles the path
To all the stars
If they open up, I sang

Blessed be the heirs
Of that Argentine countryman
Who cracked the roads
And was called a cart driver
On your truck driver journey
My beautiful shadow follows you
There won't be a missing star
To accompany you happily
As I wasn't missing
When I walked the path
Nothing in the world is eternal
But even though my end comes
I continue in the hustle
Of the modern truck driver
Winter is less harsh
For the one with a cabin
And the roadman who walks
Content in his profession
Deserves the blessing
Of the Argentine cart