Madre Anoche en las Trincheras [English translation]

Walking through the field

On the ground I saw there was

A bloodstained letter

From 40 years ago

It was from a paratrooper

Of the Eighth Company

Who wrote to his mother

And this is what the letter said:

Mother, last night in the trenches

Among the fire and the shrapnel

I saw the enemy run

The night was pitch black

I aimed with my rifle

And at the same time I fired

A light illuminated

The face of the one I killed

It was my friend Jose

My classmate from school

The one I played so much with

At "soldiers and trenches"1

Now the game was real

And they're already burying my friend

Mother I just want to die

I'm so tired of this war

Mother if I write again

It may be from heaven

Where I will find Jose

And we will play again

If my blood were ink

And my heart an inkwell

With the blood of my veins

I would write to you, "I love you"

Lalalalala (ooh-ah-ooh)

Lalalalala (ooh-ah-ooh)

Lalalalala (ooh-ah-ooh)

Lalalalala (ooh-ah-ooh)

1. A war game played by children, involving mock pursuits and gunfights, not unlike "cowboys and Indians"