Mario Benedetti: Sonata for Farewell and Flute

You're going off as alone as ever
you're sure to be missed by all
our twilight embraces will miss you
and I and my body and soul

your long shadow is reluctant
to desert us / albeit
you've decided to take it with you
whatever the risk

in any case I'd never want you
to lay your dream to rest
that dream where your love of no one
was like an all-time first

you're off yet again I don't know where
and your farewell is an echo
that lingers and speaks your name
as a final gesture

you've never kept your tenderness
for later on like bread
I'm always sure to find it
tucked loosely between your breasts

you act like you've been defeated
but I find that hard to believe
you've always won the war of words
against hatred and fear

who knows what awaits you out there
in that far-off barren place
where there are no more swallows
only winter / only waste

but should you stray off course at twilight
between your mirror and the sea
please don't ever forget that I
and my soul and my body are here

(translated by Louise B. Popkin)