[Intro] [piano enters with a mysterious tumbao, the Caribbean güiro and the brass instruments with a sharp hit] [spoken][piano only] And it is night a long and endless night where wakefulness is a dream where memories crowd in crushing in their wake what little self-esteem one still has. [Verse 1] [lead voice, presto, melodic and connected] The night extends without an end, a sleepless dream I cannot leave, Where all remembered shadows bend through what remains of self-belief. The hours gather, dark and slow, like voices pressing through a wall, And every thought I used to know returns the moment nightfall calls. The mind becomes a narrow room where memory learns at last to bloom. [Chorus] The night returns with silent weight, And memory crowds the dark again, While sleepless hours accumulate Like slowly falling winter rain. [Instrumental Break, güiro and brass] [Verse 2] [lead voice, presto, melodic and connected] There are some thoughts that should not stay too long beneath the inward gaze, For reason slowly wears away inside its self-consuming maze. Some things should simply drift along untouched by analysis or fear, Because the need to name them wrong makes every hidden impulse clear. And sometimes beauty asks of me no word, no thought — just simply be. [Chorus] I wait beside unspeaking words, Afraid to lose the moment near, And watch it fade without a sound While silence overtakes my fear. [Instrumental Break, tambora and cymbals] [shouted] ¡Salsa! ¡Que suene el piano! ¡Que rujan los trombones que el sujeto calla! [piano and brass interlude] [Verse 3] [lead voice, presto, melodic and connected] The waiting stretches through the years, a hollow motion without end, I wait for life to reappear, for something lost to rise again. I wait for her where she is not, in rooms grown distant from her name, And still I guard each fragile thought as though the past might stay the same. I hear no voice, I see no face, yet still I leave for her a place. [Chorus] The night returns with silent weight, And memory crowds the dark again, While sleepless hours accumulate Like slowly falling winter rain. [Montuno] [Call and Response, energetic, call and response style] [Choir: multiple voices] (What is it that haunts your mind?) [Solo: lead voice] Night has settled over me. [Choir:] (What returns there in the dark?) [Solo:] Every buried memory. [Choir:] (What becomes of you when silent?) [Solo:] Quietly, I start to fade. [Choir:] (What is it you never tell?) [Solo:] All the things I’m scared to say. [Choir:] (When is it you fade away?) [Solo:] As the moment disappears. [Choir:] (When do you most need to speak?) [Solo:] When the instant leaves me here. [Verse 4] [lead voice, presto, melodic and connected] My life depends on what I say, yet silence always comes too soon, I search for words that drift away like fading echoes in a room. And when at last the moment nears to speak the need I cannot hide, I lose my courage to my fears and let the living instant slide. The soul ascends toward trembling lips, then quietly the moment slips. [Chorus] The night returns with silent weight, And memory crowds the dark again, While sleepless hours accumulate Like slowly falling winter rain. I wait beside unspeaking words, Afraid to lose the moment near, And watch it fade without a sound While silence overtakes my fear. [Outro] [melodic, free verse, fading] Un espacio. Una oportunidad. Es de nuevo la ocasión esperada. ... y espero. y calladamente vi escabullirse esta última vez.
