Muchacho

Muchacho que porque la suerte quiso 
vivís en un primer piso 
de un palacete central,
que pa' vicios y placeres,
para farras y mujeres
disponés de un capital.
Muchacho
que no sabés el encanto
de haber derramado llanto
sobre un pecho de mujer;
y no sabés qué es secarse
en una timba y armarse
para volverse a meter;

que decís que un tango rante
no te hace perder la calma
y que no te llora el alma
cuando gime un bandoneón;
que si tenés sentimiento
lo tenés adormecido
pues todo lo has conseguido
pagando como un chabón.

Decime
si en tu vida pelandruna,
bajo la luz de la Luna
o si no bajo un farol,
no te has sentido poeta
y le has dicho a una pebeta
que ella es más linda que el Sol.

Decime
si conocés la armonía,
la dulce policromía
de las tardes de arrabal,
cuando van las fabriqueras
tentadoras y diqueras
bajo el sonoro percal...

English translation

Boy who, as luck would have it
you live on the second floor
of a central palace,
that for vices and pleasures,
for parties and women
you have a capital at your disposal.
Boy
you don't know the charm
of having shed tears
on a woman's breast
and you don't know what it is to dry yourself
in a timba and to arm yourself
to get back in again;

that you say that a tango rante
doesn't make you lose your temper
and that your soul doesn't weep
when a bandoneon wails;
that if you have feeling
you have it numbed
because you have achieved everything
by paying like a kid.

Tell me
if in your life you've ever been a brawler,
under the moonlight
or if not under a lantern
you have not felt like a poet
and told a little girl
that she is prettier than the Sun.

Tell me
if you know the harmony,
the sweet polychrome
of the afternoons in the suburbs
when the factory workers go
temptresses and diqueras
under the sonorous percale...