I was like a rain of ashes and afflictions in the calmest hours of your life...

This is the opening lines of the English translation of  the beautiful song Fuimos (We Were).

Lyrics are by the prolific Argentine lyricist and poet Homero Manzi. Translation is by Derrick del Pilar a Tango DJ and the author of the blog poesiadegotan.com - a great resource for tango lyrics. 

Click on this link to enjoy three versions of this song:

• Orquesta Osvaldo Pugliese, singer Roberto Chanel

• Orquesta Aníbal Troilo, singer Alberto Marino

• Susana Rinaldi

We Were…

I was like a rain of ashes and afflictions

in the calmest hours of your life…

a drop of vinegar spilled,

fatefully spilled, into all of your wounds.

Because of me you became

a summer swallow in the snow,

a wilted rose under rainless clouds.

We were the hope that never comes,

the hope that never is enough,

the hope that never glimpses a gentle afternoon.

We were the traveler that never begs,

never prays, never weeps,

who has laid down to die.

Go!

Don’t you understand that you are killing yourself?

Don’t you understand that I am calling out to you?

Go!

Don’t kiss me, I am weeping for you

though I didn’t want to weep for you anymore…

Don’t you see?

Better that my sorrow

be cast out with your love,

freed from my last love.

Go!

Don’t you understand that I am saving you?

Don’t you understand that I still love you?

Don’t follow me, or call to me, or kiss me,

or weep for me, or love me anymore!

We were embraced by the anguish of an omen

in the night on a dead-end road,

pale remains of a shipwreck,

ravaged by the waves of life and love.

We were thrown about by a desolate wind…

shadows of a shadow

returning from the past.

Photo: Homero Manzi - source: wikipedia