Desde el Alma (From the Soul)

A vals cruzado played in my head.
As if the the DJ had read my thoughts,
Desde el Alma.* started to play.
I turned to see whose eyes were upon me,
I could feel her gaze
Knocking to enter my soul.
She sat there in control of the room,
A radiant cabeco merely with
  her look,
  red dress,
  radiant smile
  on Valentine's Day.

"Matters not if you believe in Cupid's arrow,
This dart from her eyes will vanquish you."

These were the words last night
That woke me from my sleep.
A red haze fills my head
As those words have echoed
Off the walls of everyday life,
The walls of my waking dreams.
Will I tempt my fate?
Or should I avoid the milonga
On St. Valentine's Day
Because I truly do not believe
In Cupid's arrow?
But even if I did believe,
I would be a fool to try to hide
From her darting eyes.

*Desde el Alma by Rosita Melo means "From the Soul," a vals cruzada (tango waltz).  If you have only a little time, read at least the last stanza in English.
Words by Homero Manzi (followed by English):

Alma, si tanto te han herido
¿Por qué te niegas al olvido?
¿Por qué prefieres
llorar lo que has perdido
buscar lo que has querido
llamar lo que murió?

Vives inútilmente triste
y sé que nunca mereciste
pagar con penas
la culpa de ser buena,
tan buena como fuiste, por amor.

Fue lo que empezó una vez
lo que después dejó de ser.
Lo que al final, por culpa de un error
fue noche amarga del corazón.

¡Deja esas cartas!
Vuelve a tu antigua ilusión.
Junto al dolor
que abre una herida
llega la vida, trayendo amor.

Vives inútilmente triste
y sé que nunca mereciste
pagar con penas
la culpa de ser buena
tan buena como fuiste, por amor.


En inglés:


Soul, if they have hurt you so much
Why do you refuse to forget?
Why do you prefer
to cry for what you've lost
to look for what you've wanted
to call for what has died?

You live needlessly sad
and I know that you never deserved
to redeem with sorrow
the blame of being good,
as good as you were, for love.

It was what once began
what later ceased to be.
What at the end, for the fault of a mistake
was a bitter night for the heart.

Forget those letters!
Come back to your old dream.
Together with the pain
that opens a wound
life arrives, bringing love.

You live needlessly sad
and I know that you never deserved
to pay* with sorrow
the blame of being good,
as good as you were, for love


See http://www.planet-tango.com/lyrics/desdelma.htm by Alberto Paz
*I changed this from "redeem" given at the above link.