Tengo

Tengo

I have, just wait and see,

that being black and all

no one stopping me

as bar or dance hall guest

or treading the carpet of a hotel,

shouting that there's no bed,

no minimal cell and no colossal cell,

no little cell where I might take my rest.

I have, just wait and see,

freedom from the rural overseer

who straps me up and puts me in a jail

or drags my body from its native shed

down the royal highway's helpless trail.

I have the land as well as I've the sea,

no country,

no high-life,

no tennis and no yacht,

but beach to endless waves and waves to beach,

blue and naked giant of democracy:

in short, the sea.

Written by Nicolás Guillén // Published in Montevideo by El Siglo Ilustrado in 1968 // First published in 1964 Written by Nicolás Guillén + Richard J. Carr // Published in Detroit, EEUU by Broadside Press in 1974. First edition// Retrieved by Kahle/Austin Foundation
Tengo
Tengo




Books by Nicolás Guillén and/or Richard J. Carr in ALAWiT

Tengo

Edition published in Montevideo by El Siglo Ilustrado in 1968
Tengo
Nicolás Guillén
Tengo

Edition published in Detroit, EEUU by Broadside Press in 1974
Tengo
Nicolás Guillén + Richard J. Carr

About ALAWiT

ALAWiT is a resource for readers, writers, publishers, students and teachers interested in Afro-American and Latin American culture in general, and Afro-Latin American culture in particular. It gathers book covers, excerpts, bibliographic clues and digital downloads of works by black Latin American authors in original language and in translation.