El Cielo del Albañil

Allá cerquita del cielo entre los andamios

There, close to the sky among the scaffolding

Sentado como un tropero está mateando

Sitting like a gaucho, drinking mate

Igual como si estuviera en medio del campo

Just as if he were in the middle of the countryside

Debajo de alguna sombra junto a un remanso

Under some shade by a backwater

Hablando pocas palabras lo he visto a vargas

Talking few words, I've seen Vargas

Sentado así de cuclillas mirando lejos

Squatting like that, gazing into the distance

Cercado entre el hormigón; no encuentra su cielo aquí

Enclosed among the concrete; he can't find his sky here

De balde lo está buscando entre tanto gris

He's searching in vain among so much gray

En la radio sin querer

Unintentionally on the radio

Como un duende el acordeón

Like an elf, the accordion

Estirando un chamamé

Stretching a chamamé

Le estremece el corazón

It shakes his heart

Y hasta le parece angá

And it even seems to him, angá

Que si suelta un sapucay

That if he lets out a sapucay

Los peones lo han de oír

The workers will hear him

En la estancia el paraisal

In the ranch, paradise

Al verlo así me parece que anda tropeando

Seeing him like that, it seems to me he's out herding

Con su compadre lalanda como hace tanto

With his friend Lalanda like in the old times

¡Qué pena me da mirarlo entre los andamios!

How sad it is for me to see him among the scaffolding!

Con todo ese cielo adentro como sangrando

With all that sky inside, almost bleeding

Detrás del vuelo aterido de una paloma

Behind the frozen flight of a dove

Se achican sus ojos negros mirando lejos

His black eyes shrink as he looks into the distance

Cercado entre el hormigón; el cielo del albañil

Enclosed among the concrete; the bricklayer's sky

Manchado de arena y cal se termina allí

Stained with sand and lime, it ends there

Algún día volverá; le gustaba ser peón

Someday he'll come back; he liked being a laborer

No se halla por acá ya de haber una ocasión

He's not found around here, given the chance

Mientras tanto al escuchar; por la radio un chamamé

Meanwhile, upon hearing a chamamé on the radio

El remonta un sapucay; es su modo de volver

He lets out a sapucay; it's his way of coming back