Mulatto sorrow
unleashed below
embroidered garment
with tender woe.
Milonga’s pain
barely sustains
with a sad strain
April’s night rain.
Like a mirror,
polished, old gleam,
shines the dream
of the dancer’s sheen.
Scarlet carnation,
telling wish revelation,
quivering stain
on the robe’s domain.
Your mother died of love wounds
in the Tambo District haze.
Absence paths were opened
by a knifeman’s cruel ways.
Your father died in shadows,
avenging that foul act.
Mulatto, your star was born
in a crepe-blackened tract.
A light of madness
shines in the blackness
of the harsh gaze
of the dancer’s days.
Nostalgic liquor heat
to the dance beat
fuels revenge
beneath the frock neat.
Poor dark-skinned lady,
bloomed in your veins
a serene blossom
carmine stains.
Lurking grudge,
brush of disdain,
painting your chest
with carmine’s unrest.
Your mother died of love wounds,
white soul, skin of ebony tone.
Mulatto, her lips retained
the resentment once shown.
Your father died in shadows,
avenging that foul act.
Mulatto, your star was born
in a crepe-blackened tract.
Mulatto sorrow
unleashed below
embroidered garment
with tender woe.
Milonga’s pain
barely sustains
with a sad strain
April’s night rain.
