Que Son Esas Palabras
Veinte años vivieron el uno junto al otro,
veinte años de cardo de cereal y de trilla,
la rueda del molino, acompasaba las horas
y el invierno dormia en la hiedra amarilla.
El cuidaba de todo, con prudencia callada,
lo mismo los ganados, que la cosecha fina,
ella cruzaba el patio, como rueda de espuela,
entre el pozo de agua, la mesa de harina.
En inviernos atroces, en veranos soleados,
durante veinte años, se hicieron compañia,
nunca se preguntó, si la habia querido,
que son esas palabras, estaba y la tenia.
El no necesitaba noción mas detallada,
que conocer su nombre, y el nombre lo sabia,
él la llamaba Carmen en la sombra y la tarde,
cuando la luz es lámpara de mecha tardia.
Veinte años vivieron el uno junto al otro,
sin ver apenas médico, peón, colono, artista,
el tren pasaba lejos como un cuento de infancia,
y el no se preguntaba si en verdad la queria.
Ella murio lustrando la vajilla de plata,
en el ancho silencio de la tarde vacia,
el aprendio de golpe, como caen las heladas,
que el amor es amor, aunque no se lo diga.
What Are Those Words
Twenty years they lived together, side by side,
twenty years of thistle and grain, of threshing,
the mill wheel kept time,
and winter slept in the yellow ivy.
He took care of everything, with quiet prudence,
both the livestock and the fine harvest,
she crossed the courtyard, like a spur wheel,
between the water well and the flour table.
In harsh winters, in sunny summers,
for twenty years, they kept each other company,
she never asked if he had loved her,
what are those words, she was there and he had her.
He didn't need a more detailed notion,
than knowing her name, and he knew the name,
he called her Carmen in the shadow and the evening,
when the light is a late wick lamp.
Twenty years they lived together, side by side,
hardly seeing a doctor, laborer, settler, artist,
the train passed far away like a childhood tale,
and he never wondered if he truly loved her.
She died while polishing the silverware,
in the wide silence of the empty afternoon,
he suddenly learned, like frost falls,
that love is love, even if it's not said.