unoriginalname38 – the blog of Dave Cole

Death of Pinochet 1/3

When Francisco Franco died, one of the songs that people sang in celebration and mourning was "Yo pisaré las calles nuevamente" by Pablo Milanés. The song was written in 1974 as Pinochet began his long reign over Chile that would lead to death, torture, disappearance and fear for many. Although sung at the end of Franco's reign but the beginning of Pinochet, it encapsulates the sentiments very well.

The song's lyrics are (quickly translated into English by me):

Yo pisaré las calles nuevamente
de lo que fue Santiago ensangrentada,
y en una hermosa plaza liberada
me detendré a llorar por los ausentes.

Yo vendré del desierto calcinante
y saldré de los bosques y los lagos,
y evocaré en un cerro de Santiago
a mis hermanos que murieron antes.

Retornarán los libros, las canciones
que quemaron las manos asesinas.
Renacerá mi pueblo de su ruina
y pagarán su culpa los traidores.

Un niño jugará en una alameda
y cantará con sus amigos nuevos,
y ese canto será el canto del suelo
a una vida segada en La Moneda.

Yo pisaré las calles nuevamente
de lo que fue Santiago ensangrentada,
y en una hermosa plaza liberada
me detendré a llorar por los ausentes.

___

I will walk the streets of what was bloodied
Santiago as a new person
an in a beautiful square now free
I will pause to cry for the missing

I will come from the burning desert
and from the woods and the lakes
and on a Santiago hill I will remember
my brothers who died before

They will give back the books, the songs
That they burned with murdering hands
My country will be reborn from its ruins
And the traitors will pay for their crimes

A child will play in a garden
and will sing with new friends
and that song will be the song from the floor
to a life cut short in La Moneda

I will walk the streets of what was bloodied
Santiago as a new person
an in a beautiful square now free
I will pause to cry for the missing

xD.

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