La Balada del Corto Maltese [English translation]

Corto Maltese is a sailor

With a long fame as an adventurer.

Many women, many tattoos,

A lifetime from travel to travel.

He rode across the Salty Sea

For the desperates' cause.

He lived in China Nationalist

Fighting to the death with the fascists.

I don't say anything that's not known,

It’s all written in the library,

His powerful melancholy,

His scars, his shoot accuracy.

There are known his escapades

With the gypsies of Andalusia.

In the mines, his performances

When he made a stop in Argentina.

The Malevolence Queen herself

Kissed the lips of his tattoos.

The two danced like haunted

Terrible tangos, well packed.

I don't say anything that's not known,

It’s all written in the library.

The two pillows where they slept

Like little boats in Riachuelo.

What the library doesn’t say

Is that the romance was short-lived.

Corto Maltese had a date

With the adventure in Orinoco.

She chose to keep quiet,

Making it look like she was pregnant.

She could have, but she didn't want

To say she was expecting a child.

Day after day on Costanera

A sad child looks and waits.

He waits for things that don’t appear,

Dad and the boat, Corto Maltese.

• Artist:Jairo