La Novia Ausente (The Missing Girlfriend)
Music: Guillermo Barbieri
Lyrics: Enrique Cadícamo
Translation: Felipe & Ayano
Recorded by Alfredo De Angelis with Julio Martel in 1947
Español
A veces repaso mis horas aquellas
cuando era estudiante y tú eras la amada
que con tus sonrisas repartías estrellas
a todos los mozos de aquella barriada.
¡Ah! las noches tibias... ¡Ah! la fantasía
de nuestra veintena de abriles felices,
cuando solamente tu risa se oía
y yo no tenía mis cabellos grises.
Íbamos del brazo y tú suspirabas
porque muy cerquita te decía:
"Mi bien...
¿ves como la luna se enreda en los pinos
y su luz de plata te besa en la sien?"
Al raro conjuro de noche y reseda
temblaban las hojas del parque, también,
y tú me pedías que te recitara
esta "Sonatina" que soñó Rubén:
(Recitado:)
"¡La princesa está triste!
¿Qué tendrá la princesa?
Los suspiros se escapan de su boca de fresa.
Que ha perdido la risa, que ha perdido el color...
Al raro conjuro de noche y reseda
temblaban las hojas del parque, también,
y tú me pedías que te recitara
esta "Sonatina" que soñó Rubén
(Unsung part)
La princesa está pálida en su silla de oro,
está mudo el teclado de su clave sonoro
y en un vaso, olvidada, se desmaya una flor."
¿Qué duendes lograron lo que ya no existe?
¿Qué mano huesuda fue hilando mis males?
¿Y qué pena altiva hoy me ha hecho tan triste,
triste como el eco de las catedrales?
¡Ah!... ya sé, ya sé...
Fue la novia ausente,
aquella que cuando estudiante, me amaba.
Que al morir, un beso le dejé en la frente
porque estaba fría, porque me dejaba.
English
Sometimes I go back to those days
when I was a student and you were the loved one
who delivered stars with your smiles
to all the boys in that neighborhood.
Ah! the warm nights, ah! the fantasy
of our happy twenty years,
when only your laughter was heard
and I didn't have grey hair.
We went arm in arm and you used to sigh
because very close to me I used to tell you
"My dear one,
Do you see the moon entwined with the pines
and how its silver light kisses you on the temple?"
With a rare spell of night and small flowers
the leaves in the park shivered as well,
and you used to ask me to recite for you
this "Sonatina" that Ruben dreamed of:
(Recited)
The Princess is sad!
What's up with the princess?
Whispers escape from her strawberry lips.
The laughter is gone, the color is gone...
With a rare spell of night and small flowers
the leaves in the park shivered as well,
and you used to ask me to recite for you
this "sonatina" that Ruben dreamed of:
(Unsung part)
The Princess is pale in her golden chair
her sounding clave's keyboard is muted
and in a glass, forgotten, a flower wilts.
Which ghosts got what's not there anymore?
Which bony hand was weaving my harm?
And what haughty punishment has made me so sad today, sad like the echo of the cathedrals?
Ah!... I know, I know...
It was the missing girlfriend,
the one who loved me when I was a student.
When dying, I gave her a kiss on the forehead
because she was cold, because she was leaving me.
Note: ""Sonatina" that Ruben dreamed of" refers to the poem "Sonatina" written by Nicaraguan poet Rubén Darío (1867-1916). Read HERE for more.