How do you want me to love you,
mulatto, enthusiastically,
if you've already given your heart
to more than three or four guys1.
You tell me to love you, yes,
you tell me to love you, no,
I don't want your kisses like that,
I who am a runaway slave2
Oh, Oh, delight, sun of Cuba,
I go away towards the bushes
to the shade of a bamboo
so that there I will love you
and also you will love me,
until the morning sun comes
with its light to call us.
Oh, oh, oh, delight, sun of Cuba,
in the shade of a Bamboo.
Your mouth red and delicious,
your teeth white like stocks,
your cheeks are two white
flowers from a floribunda rose.
Mulatto, don't tell me no,
mulatto, now tell me yes,
and so we'll only be
you for me and I for you.
Oh, come with me to Colombia,
Cuban girl of my soul,
because there I have a ranch
to live in all my life
where I can love you
and adore you day and night.
1. literally: two and four2. or could it mean "a wild negro"?