Beatriz

Letra

[Verse 1]
On the scorching February morning when Beatriz Viterbo died,
After an imperious agony that yielded not one instant
To sentimentality or fear, I noticed the iron panels
Of Plaza Constitución had renewed some cigarette ad—
The fact displeased me, for I grasped that the vast, incessant universe
Was already drifting away from her, this change the first
In an infinite series.

[Verse 2]
The universe will change, but I will not, I thought with melancholy vanity;
I know my vain devotion once exasperated her;
Now dead, I could devote myself to her memory,
Without hope, but also without humiliation.
I recalled that April 30th marked her birthday;
To visit the house on Garay Street that day,
To greet her father and cousin Carlos Argentino Daneri—
A courteous, irreproachable act, perhaps inevitable.

[Chorus]
Again, I'd wait in the twilight of that cluttered little room,
Study once more the details of her many portraits:
Beatriz Viterbo in profile, vivid in colors;
Beatriz masked at the 1921 carnival;
Her first communion, pure and solemn;
Beatriz on her wedding day to Roberto Alessandra;

[Verse 3]
Beatriz soon after the divorce, at the Hipico Club luncheon;
Beatriz in Quilmes with Delia San Marco Porcel and Carlos Argentino;
Beatriz with the Pekingese from Villegas Haedo;
Beatriz full face and three-quarter profile, smiling,
Hand on chin, eternal in that gaze...
No longer obliged to justify my presence
With modest book offerings—pages I finally learned to cut,
Lest months later prove they lay untouched.