PAINT ME LITTLE BLACK ANGELS

Oh world! The black woman Juana,
what a hand she was dealt!
Her little baby died,
yes sir.

Oh, my little soul mate!
So good was the black child!
I did not notice his skinfold;
I did not look at his bones;
since I was getting thin,
I compared him to my body,
he was getting thinner
as I myself was.
My little black baby died,
God would be ready for him.
He may already have a place for him
as a little angel from heaven.

—Wise up my friend,
there are no little black angels.

Painter of alcove saints,
painter without a country in your heart,
that when you paint your saints
you don't remember your people,
that when you paint your Virgins
you paint pretty little angels,
but you never remembered
to paint a black angel.

Painter born in my country
with a foreign paintbrush,
a painter who follows the course
of so many old painters,
even though the Virgin is white,
paint me little black angels.

Is there no painter who would paint
little angels from my village?
I want little white angels
with little brown-skinned angels.
An angel from a good family
is not enough for my heaven.

If there is a painter of saints,
if there is a painter of skies,
he can do the sky of my land
with the hues of my people;
with your angel of fine pearl
with your middling angel
with their little white angels
with their little Indian angels
with their little black angels
they can go eating mangoes
throughout the barrios of heaven.

If I go to heaven someday,
I have to find you in heaven,
the devil's little angel,
the blackest seraph.

If you know how to paint your country,
then you should paint your sky
with your sun that tans whites,
with your sun that sweats blacks,
because that way you have
the warm and the good.

There is no magnificent church,
there is no village church
where they have allowed in
a painting of little black angels.
So where do they go then,
angels of my village,
the vultures of Guaribe,
the thrush of Barlovento?

Painter who paints your country,
if you want to paint your sky,
when you paint little angels,
remember your people,
and alongside the fair-haired angel
and together with a dark-skinned angel,
even though the Virgin is white,
paint me little black angels.