El Faro
Patricio Manns
The Lighthouse
(Peruvian waltz)
Your body was the ship of my dreams,
Your breasts a double-handed helm.
Your mouth a hard and aching bow
That led me to the depths of exile.
Because of you, I know of coves never opened,
Because of you, I know of a volcano that's red.
Because of you, I discovered the secret lighthouse
And one dark night, its eye called to me.
I've sailed in you like on a boat
Where all my passions came together.
I made your soul an act of my life
To help you forget my obsessions.
The bow led me to your reef
And there I happily shipwrecked.
Since loving is sailing without a course
And shipwrecking is slow poetry.
But it’s all in vain because a ship
Betrays the sailor without a care.
If they ask about your captain,
Tell them he was blinded by the lighthouse's light.
