Cambalache [English translation]

That the world is and always will be

rubbish, I already know it.

In the year five hundred ten

and in two thousand, too:

That there have always been crooks,

swindlers1and the swindled,

content and bitter people,

barons and fakes2.

But that the twentieth century

is a exhibition

of shameless wickedness

no one can deny.

We wallow in muck

and in the same mud

we paw and are pawed.

Today, after all, it's the same

to be upright or a traitor,

an ignoramus, a sage or a thief,

pretentious, a swindler...

It’s all the same!

Nothing is better!

A jackass is the same

as an eminent professor.

There are no passing grades on the scale.

Immoral beings are our equals.

If one lives like an imposter

and another steals in his ambition,

it makes no difference if you’re a priest,

a matress maker, the King of Wands,

stonefaced or a stowaway.

What disrespect!

What an affront to reason!

Anyone may be a lord.

Anyone can be a thief.

Grouped with Toscanini

go Escarfaso and Napoleón.

Don Bosco and La Mignon3,

Carnera and San Martín...

Just like the tasteless window displays

of a junk shop,

life is mixed up

and wounded by a toilet paper holder.

You see the Bible weep

with a water heater.

Twentieth century junk shop

problematic and feverish...

The sqeaky wheel gets the grease4

Anyone who doesn’t steal is a fool.

Go, just go!

Go ahead!

Whatever's in the oven

we’re gonna find...!

Stop thinking, sit on the sideline,

No one cares if you were born with honor...

If someone who works

night and day like a ox

is the same as a pimp5...

someone who kills, someone who cures,

or is ouside of the law...

1. a reference to Niccolò Machiavelli2. costume jewelry3. an image created to represents a prostitute4. Literally: He (a baby) who doesn’t cry, doesn’t

nurse5. one who lives off of women