El Ultimo Cafe
/El Último Café by Julio Sosa
Llega tu recuerdo en torbellino
Vuelve en el otoño a atardecer
Miro la garúa, y mientras miro
Gira la cuchara de café
El último café
Que tus labios con frío
Pidieron esa vez
Con la voz de un suspiro
Recuerdo tu desdén
Te evoco sin razón
Te escucho sin que estés
"Lo nuestro terminó"
Dijiste en un adiós
De azúcar y de hiel
Lo mismo que el café
Que el amor, que el olvido
Que el vértigo final
De un rencor sin porqué...
Y allí, con tu impiedad
Me vi morir de pie
Medí tu vanidad
Y entonces comprendí mi soledad
Sin para qué...
Llovía y te ofrecí, ¡el último café!
The Last Coffee - Artistic Translation by Tango Allison
*I published my first translation a few months ago, but I decided to redo it, because this is such a rich tango. Below is a translation with more artistic license, it’s all me ;) I hope you enjoy:
The Last Coffee
Your memory arrives in a flurry
Like autumn returns at sunset
I’m alone in the fog and mist,
mindlessly stirring my coffee.
The last coffee
that your lips coldly requested, with a sigh
You’re more resigned than I
I punish myself with memories of your disdain
I catch myself listening for your footsteps
But the house is empty.
“What we had is over.”
You said in a goodbye of sugar and ice.
It’s over, just like that coffee is over
Just like love ends,
just like oblivion ends abruptly, when you least expect it, when you most need it.
I’m falling
Into that final vertigo
of needless, crazy rancor...
It rained and I offered you the last coffee.
The Last Coffee - Original Translation by Tango Allison:
Your memory arrives in a flurry
Autumn returns at sunset
I look at the fog and mist, and while I look,
I stir the coffee spoon.
The last coffee
that your lips coldly asked for that time,
with a sigh
I remember your disdain
I evoke you without reason.
I listen for you, but you’re not here
"What was ours has ended"
You said in a bittersweet goodbye
Just like that coffee,
the love, the forgetfulness
that final vertigo of a rancor without reason...
And from there, with your impiety
I saw myself die standing.
I measured your vanity
and then I understood my solitude
Without a reason why...
It rained and I offered you the last coffee.
