AQUELLAS PEQUEÑAS COSAS (THOSE LITTLE THINGS)

Music and lyrics by Joan Manuel Serrat
Translation by Coby Lubliner

Uno se cree
que los mató el tiempo y la ausencia.
Pero su tren
vendió boleto de ida y vuelta.

Son aquellas pequeñas cosas,
que nos dejó un tiempo de rosas
en un rincón,
en un papel o en un cajón.

Como un ladrón
te acechan detrás de la puerta.
Te tienen tan
a su merced como hojas muertas
que el viento arrastra allá o aquí...
Que te sonríen tristes y
nos hacen que
lloremos cuando nadie nos ve.

One might have thought
That time and absence left them forsaken.
But on their train
A round-trip ticket’s what they’ve taken.

They are those little things left over
From a time when we were in clover,
Stuck in a nook,
Or in a drawer, or in a book.

Just like a thief,
They hide behind the door while spying.
They have you at
Their mercy, very much like dying
Leaves that the wind blows here and there...
And with a sadly smiling air
They make us cry
When there is no one watching nearby.

Translation © 2005 by Jacob Lubliner

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