NINETEEN YEARS OLD / DIECINUEVE AÑOS

    Once, so I can forget you. Acrylic on wood panel, 100x70cm, 2004

I woke up next to her when I was nineteen,

she had the mannerisms of a stewardess and small eyes.

For two weeks I followed her everywhere:

She knew how to sit on rooftops without showing her underwear,

the shortest skirts I'll ever see.

 

She was seventeen,

I thought things would work out the way they always did:

her lack of direction would make her lose herself in the details

                                              and I would just have to undress her.

She had long, shiny hair,

I was dating a girl with long, shiny hair.

she was afraid of losing her virginity to me

because she wasn't in love with me, and well,

things seemed very easy and very complicated

                                                    [at the same time.

I've never been nineteen again like I was then.

 

There's no need for details, she became one of those girls

you don't make love to

and with whom you remain in love a little bit

                                      [for the rest of your life.

 

Today, at the age of twenty-three, I went back to her,

and she was very different, still with her small eyes...

                                             [and her very straight smile,

she had short hair and a kind half-smile,

she was very thin and seemed taller

                                           [and sadder,

I had the feeling that I was falling in love

with the wrong idea of her on the rooftop 

                     [with her white cotton panties

or the wrong idea of her and me all different,

        [the February rain and her straight smile,

she and I, a little more sullen and sad.

 in truth, she seemed sadder.

 

She had short, sad hair,

I was dating a girl with long, shiny hair,

and well, things seemed to me very easy and very complicated

                                                                               [at the same time.

I've never been nineteen again like I was then.


-----------------------------------------// Orignal version below //


DIECINUEVE AÑOS

 

Desperté a su lado a los diecinueve años,

tenía ademanes de azafata y los ojos pequeños.

Por dos semanas la seguí a todas partes:

sabía cómo sentarse en las azoteas sin enseñar la ropa interior,

las faldas más cortas que veré jamás.

 

Tenía diecisiete años,

Creí que las cosas funcionarían como siempre lo hacían:

su falta de orientación la haría perderse en los detalles

                          y yo sólo tendría que desnudarla.

Tenía el pelo largo y brillante,

yo salía con una chica con el pelo largo y brillante

tenía miedo de perder la virginidad conmigo

porque no estaba enamorada de mi, y bueno,

las cosas parecían muy fáciles y muy complicadas

    [a un tiempo.

Ya nunca he vuelto a tener diecinueve años como entonces.

 

Sobran detalles, se convirtió en una de esas chicas

con las que no haces el amor

y de las que sigues enamorado un poco

      [por el resto de la vida.

 

Hoy, a la edad de veintitrés años, he vuelto a ella,

y estaba muy diferente, aún con sus ojos pequeños

            [y su sonrisa rectísima,

tenía el pelo corto y una media sonrisa amable,

estaba muy delgada y parecía más alta

         [y más triste,

tenía la sensación de estar enamorándome

de la idea equivocada de ella en la azotea 

      [con sus braguitas blancas de algodón

o de la idea equivocada de ella y yo todo diferente,

                 [la lluvia de febrero y su sonrisa rectísima,

ella y yo un poco más huraños y tristes

 en verdad, parecía más triste.

 

Ella tenía el pelo corto y triste,

yo salía con una chica con el pelo largo y brillante,

y bueno, las cosas me parecían muy fáciles y muy complicadas

             [a un tiempo.

Ya nunca he vuelto a tener diecinueve años como entonces.


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