NaPoWriMo # 49

Requiem for Mercedes Sosa

Just in case Mercedes returns,

in case a bombó or a zampoña bring her back,

maybe she’ll return in the gallop of a chacarera,

or in the swell of a samba.

Hopefully a tango brings her back.

And if the songs she left, the palpitations,

the flora and fauna (happy

to have been conceived by the voice

of La Negra) bring her back: that is to say,

in case an airplane doesn’t,

or yet another concert, and even then,

Mercedes returns with her pure voice purer,

and the full-bodied richness of her vocal cords

capable of making bread or birds appear.

And just in case Mercedes does return,

I’m buying two front seats,

one to sit down and watch her,

another one to dance and sing.