¿Cuando Duerme La Guitarra?
Atahualpa Yupanqui
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?
