Alle prese con una verde milonga [English translation]

Grappling with a green milonga [1]

the musician enjoys himself and gets exhausted

and you will have me, you green milonga who were written for me,

for my sensitiveness, for my well-polished shoes

for my time and for my taste

you will have me, you restless green milonga,

who wring a smile of truce out of me at each chord

while you drive my fingers mad

I am here, I've come to play,

I've come to love and, secretly, to dance

and supposing [2] the milonga was a song,

well, I woke it up and led it to a slower rhythm

so the milonga revealed about herself [3] much more than what appeared,

her African origin, her zebra elegance,

her border-line essence, a green border-line,

a green border-line between playing and loving,

green show on the run, to run after,

to always run after, to run after even longer, up to the white lakes of silence

until Atahualpa [4] or some other god

says to you: "Get out of the way, child, I'll go on!"

I am here, I've come to play,

I've come to dance and, secretly, to love.

[1] an old argentine dance, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milonga

[2] "even granted, for the sake of argument, that..."

[3] I was uncertain whether to refer to milonga as a thing ("it") or a person ("her"). In fact the author talks about (and to) milonga as if it was a person.

[4] referred to Atahualpa Yupanqui, the last great milonga dancer.

• Artist:Paolo Conte