RETROSPECT
This article first appeared in the June 2019 issue of INSiGHT.
The Landing The poem was performed by Argentine performer and composer Leon Gieco and musician Lito Vitale. It can be viewed at https://youtu.be/NCH7X8uB2DY
There are those who resist and never complain (Están los que resisten y nunca se lamentan) Those who say: "What do I live for" (Los que dicen: "yo para qué vivo") Those who recover fast their strength (Los que recuperan rápido sus fuerzas) Those who profit from what I have lost. (Los que lucran con lo que he perdido.)
Waiting for a new skin of this sun (Esperando una piel nueva de este sol) We do not pretend to see the change (No pretendemos ver el cambio) Only having left something (Sólo haber dejado algo) On the road traveled that happened. (Sobre el camino andado que pasó.)
There are those who yield and stands (Hay quien sucumbe y se levanta) There are those who stay there always lying (Hay quien queda allí siempre tendido) There are those who help you take off and those who never (Hay quien te ayuda a despegar y los que nunca) Recognize you when you are defeated. (Te reconocen cuando estás vencido.)
It's normal to see kids without shoes (Ya es normal ver chicos sin zapatos) Looking for food in the trash (Buscando comida en la basura) And it's a postcard the door of the church (Y es una postal la puerta de la iglesia) From that mother with her child. (De esa madre con su criatura.)
How many there are who think it's late for everything (Cuántos hay que piensan que es tarde para todo) And how many cry "always ahead!" (Y cuántos claman "¡siempre adelante!") How many who see the stone on the road (Cuántos los que ven la piedra en el camino) And how many who never look at anything. (Y cuántos los que nunca miran nada.)
While this happens there will be no glory (Mientras esto pase no habrá gloria) It's sand that escapes between your fingers (Es arena que se escapa entre los dedos) It's pain, it's lies, it's hypocrisy (Es dolor, es mentiras, es hipocresía) It's a fragile time these days. (Es un tiempo frágil de estos días.)
Joy with strength feeds (La alegría con la fuerza se alimenta) And there are no walls or bars that slow it down (Y no hay muros ni rejas que la frenen) There are those who land burning with a shout (Hay quienes desembarcan ardiendo con un grito) Without boats and without weapons for life. (Sin barcos y sin armas por la vida.)
Ignorance can sometimes with a people (La ignorancia a veces puede con un pueblo) And tyrants and executioners win (Y ganan tiranos y verdugos) We believe that the story was made in a minute (Creemos que la historia se hizo en un minuto) And everything lived, a bad dream. (Y todo lo vivido, un mal sueño.)
Is there someone who blesses this beautiful communion (Hay alguien que bendiga esta hermosa comunión) Of those that we thought seemed? (De los que pensamos parecido) We are the least, we never were the first (Somos los menos, nunca fuimos los primeros) We do not kill or die to win (No matamos ni morimos por ganar) Rather we are alive to walk (Mas bien estamos vivos por andar)
Sometimes we are our enemies (A veces somos nuestros enemigos) We polluted the routes and the rivers (Ensuciamos las rutas y los ríos) We kill in the war and in the streets today we have (Matamos en la guerra y en las calles hoy tenemos) Old monuments of murderers. (Viejos monumentos de asesinos.)
52 INSiGHT DECEMBER 2021
There are those who land burning with a shout (Hay quienes desembarcan ardiendo con un grito) Without boats and without weapons for life ... (Sin barcos y sin armas por la vida...)
