Romance del Amargo [English translation]

On the twenty-fifth of june

they told the embittered man

"Now if you want you can cut

the oleanders in your yard"

On the twenty-fifth of june

they told the embittered man

Paint a cross on the door

and write your name below

because hemlock and nettles

will spring from your side

and quick-lime splinters

will gnaw at your shoes

It will be a dark night

in the magnetic mountains

where the water oxen

drink from the reeds, dreaming

Ask for lights and bells

Learn to cross your hands

and to savour the chilly air

of metal and boulders

because within two months

you will lie in your grave