Llanto a mi madre [English translation]

Lovers come and go

everyone knows that,

my mother's love has left me -

there's only one love like that of a mother's -

the Everlasting God beckoned her to Heaven.

I lived the life of a vagabond, far from my hometown

I spent time with different women,

tired of life and its pleasures

I returned to my saintly little mother.

What pain and sadness I felt

when I saw that little house boarded up,

and the door that I had left through

was now painted with black.1

Like a madman I ran to the cemetery

and my cry encircled her grave;

I had returned to ask her for her forgiveness

but too late I had found she'd been buried.

I lived the life of a vagabond, far from my hometown

I spent time with different women,

tired of life and its pleasures

I returned to my saintly little mother.

What pain and sadness I felt

when I saw that little house boarded up,

and the door that I had left through

was now painted with black.

Like a madman I ran to the cemetery

and my cry encircled her grave;

I had returned to ask her for her forgiveness

but too late I had found she'd been buried.

1. It's common in Mexico (in other Latin/South American countries too) to either place a black ribbon/bow (in some instances, black paint can be used) over the front door of your house to signify that someone in the household has passed away (or that the family is in mourning). There is no time limit to how long it can be left there, some people leave it there for years after someone has passed.