De La Ausencia Y De Ti, Velia Lyrics in English by Silvio Rodriguez

This song feels like a deeply personal reflection, a journey through memory and longing. The singer is searching for something precious, a "diamante" [diamond], and it seems to be an internal quest, as he says he won't "mirad a los mapas seguiré en mi mismo" [look at maps, I will follow myself]. He's trying to forget certain things, like a "libro" [book] that was once part of him, or perhaps he's trying to create a new song.

There's a strong sense of waiting for someone named Velia. He mentions that "la ciudad los amigos y el mal" [the city, the friends, and the bad] are all the same, and he's still going to "tete" [a place, possibly a regular meeting spot] week after week, remembering their time there. Even amidst talk of "fusiles" [rifles] and "despidiendo muertos" [saying goodbye to the dead], he feels Velia's presence, perhaps through someone else's love, saying "es por eso tal vez que te siento en su sangre" [it's for that reason perhaps that I feel you in her blood]. He grapples with the "ausencia de ti" [absence of you] and the "nostalgia de cosas pequeñas y tontas" [nostalgia for small and silly things], like "reír madrugada sin ir a dormir" [laughing at dawn without going to sleep]. He wishes he were old and wise enough to tell her all he couldn't before, wanting to be "un libro salvaje" [a wild book] or "un muerto que aprende a besar" [a dead man who learns to kiss] for her.