Am F
The man outside he works for me, his name is Mariano
Am F G
He cuts and trims the grass for me he makes the flowers bloom
Am F
He says that he comes from a place not far from Guanajuato
Am G Am
Thats two days on a bus from here, a lifetime from this room.
I fix his meals and talk to him in my old broken spanish
He points at things and tells me names of things I canʼt recall
Sometimes I just canʼt but help but wonder who this man is
And if when he is gone will heʼll remember me at all
I watch him close he works just like a piston in an engine
He only stops to take a drink and smoke a cigarette
When the day is ended, I look outside my window
There on the horizon, Marianoʼs silhouette
He sits upon a stone in a south-easterly direction
I know my charts I know that he is thinking of his home
Iʼve never been the sort to say Iʼm in to intuition
But I swear I see the faces of the ones he calls his own
Their skin is brown as potters clay, their eyes void of expression
Their hair is black as widowʼs dreams, their dreams are all but gone
Theyʼre ancient as a vision of a sacrificial virgin
Innocent as crying from a baby being born
They hover around a dying flame and pray for his protection
Their prayers are all but answered by his letters in the mail
He sends them colored figures that he cuts from strips of paper
And all his weekly wages, saving nothing for himself
Itʼs been a while since I have seen the face of Mariano
The border guards they came one day and took him far away
I hope that he is safe down there at home in Guanajuato
I worry though I read thereʼs revolution every day...
