Why I Don't Drink Anymore

The Indian Duarte

The harvest is about to begin in the horcón,
Factory that at the time needed laborers,
the countrymen held their meetings in the grocery store
where I work offered the foreman.
He drank, he drank a lot, perhaps to excess,
then Julián, a young man appreciated by everyone, entered,
-Sírvase de algo parcero, -Gracias amigo no tomo,
-What did you say? What; doesn’t he drink? ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha,
And where have you seen a creole who does not at least suck on something,
yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, at least a liter of liquor a day, ha,
Come on, shopkeeper, put a jar that the young man is going to drink with me.
Sorry friend, I told you that I don't drink, I don't want to drink,
but since you insist so much, I listened,
I have taken perhaps as the first,
all of you knew her, who was my wife,
my Juana, pure soul that I do not even deserve
that more than one will envy,
for her yes, only for her,
To avoid seeing her suffer or cry, I restrained my impulses to drink many times.
But when one day God took her away from my side forever,
for that payment where one does not return,
when I found myself alone, completely alone with the son of his love,
that will form when joining with mine like a fruit or a flower,
so yes! so yes!! I returned to drinking with eagerness,
and locked up in my ranch with a bottle of liquor I drank, I drank,
I used to drink until I lost my mind,
and there when I was really, really drunk,
on the wall of the ranch she appeared,
my Juana, and she was talking to me, talking to me with that voice
For me, sweeter than the song of the calandra.
That illusion felt so real to me,
it seemed so certain to me that one day my poor son, entering the ranch, told me
-But how? Are you still drinking guaro, babe?
it's been six days, six days of drinking,
Why has it been taking so long, babe?
Why? Don't you see that I'm barefoot?
Don't you see that I'm dressed in rags?
Don't you see that when I leave school they shout your father is a drunk?
And they're right. Why, darling? Why do you drink so much?
What did you say? How do you say silly brat?
Why am I drinking?, Why am I drinking?
Don't you see that by taking it I am seeing it?
-Who do you see?, Who?
if inside 'the ranch there is no one else but you' and that I...
Who do you see?
How? Who am I seeing?
Aren't you seeing your mother? ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha
Juana, your son says he doesn't see you,
-My mother? You, you, are you seeing my mother?
But how?
Didn't you always tell me that my mother died when I was born?
Where is she?, Where is my mother? Where is my mother? I want to see her,
I want to see my mother!!!, I want to see her!!!.
You want to see your mother, look,
to see her mother she has to drink guaro,
you have to drink a lot of liquor just like I did,
yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
One day in front of my ranch, I get off,
from inside I heard a noise like laughter, crying, kicking,
Something darker than the eye of my horse crossed my mind,
and with one kick I knocked down the door of 'el rancho,
and on the ground, writhing in convulsions,
and with a mouth full of drool like bitten by a snake,
my son was, my son was on the ground,
I looked around for a while and over the table,
the bottle of guaro was completely empty,
I raised it, lifting my hand to punish him,
I said to him, 'Why have you taken? Why have you taken, son of a great...?'
Why have you taken it?
And my poor son rolling his eyes from the fright said to me
Don't hit me, don’t hit me, sweetie, don’t hit me,
I have drunk, I have drunk, I will keep drinking,
I am going to keep drinking because I want to see her,
I want to see my mother as you see her.
Do you understand WHY I DON'T TAKE MORE?!