I come from a silence

I come from a silence
that's old and very long,
of people who keep standing up
from the bottom of the centuries,
of people they call
the subordinate classes;
I come from a silence
that's old and very long.

I come from the squares
and the streets full
of children playing
and old people waiting,
while men and women
are working
in the little workshops,
at home or in the fields.

I come from a silence
that is not resigned,
of where the green land starts
and the dry land ends;
of effort and blasphemy
because all goes wrong:
who loses his origins
loses identity.

I come from a silence
that's old and very long,
of people with no mystics
or captains,
who live and die
in anonymity,
who have never believed
in solemn phrases.

I come from a struggle
that is deaf and constant,
I come from a silence
that will be broken by people
who now want to be free
and love life,
who demand the things
they have been denied.

I come from a silence
that's old and very long,
I come from a silence
that is not resigned,
I come from a silence
that the people will break,
I come from a struggle
that is deaf and constant.