“Estoy Aquí” by Shakira, English translation of lyrics

“I Am Here”
Album: Piez Descalzos (Bare Feet), 1995
Style: Rock, brunette Shakira, nostalgia about a past love with touches of obsession and sadness
Country: Colombia
Listen: YouTube, Amazon

Translation:

Ya sé que no vendrás.
Todo lo que fue,
El tiempo lo dejo atras.

I already know you won’t come.
Everything that was,
Time has left behind.

Sé que no regresarás.
Lo que nos paso
No repetira jamás.

I know you won’t return.
What happened to us
Will never again repeat.

Mil años no me alcanzarán
Para borrarte y olvidar.

A thousand years won’t catch me up
To erase you and forget.

Y ahora estoy aquí,
Quierendo convertir
Los campos en ciudad,
Mezclando cielo con el mar.

And now I am here,
Wanting to turn
The open fields into cities,
Mixing sky with sea.

Sé que te dejé escapar.
Sé que te perdi.
Nada podrá ser igual.

I know that I let you escape.
I know that I lost you.
Nothing will ever be the same.

Mil años pueden alcanzar
Para que puedas perdonar.

A thousand years can catch up
So that you can forgive.

Chorus:
————————————————
Estoy aquí, quierendote, ahogandome
Entre fotas y cuandernos,
Entre cosas y recuerdos
Que no puedo comprender.

I am here, loving you, drowning myself
Between photos and notebooks,
Between things and memories
That I can’t understand.

Estoy enloqueciendome,
Cambiando un pie por la cara mía,
Esta noche por el día que
Nada le puedo yo hacer.

I am driving myself mad,
Exchanging a foot for this face of mine, [*alt. Exchanging a foot for my face]
This night for the day that—
I can’t do anything about it.
————————————————

Las cartas que escribi
Nunca las envié.
No querrás saber de mí.

The letters that I wrote,
I never sent them.
You won’t want to know about me.

No puedo entender
Lo tonta que fui.
Es cuestion de tiempo y fe.

I can’t understand
How stupid I was.
It’s a matter of time and faith.

Mil años con otros mil más
Son suficientes para amar.

A thousand years with a thousand more
Are enough to love.

[Chorus: “Estoy aquí, quierendote, ahogandome…”]

Si aún piensas algo en mí,
Sabes que sigo esperandote…

If even now you think of me (sometimes),
You know that I continue waiting for you…

[Chorus: “Estoy aquí, quierendote, ahogandome…”]

Translation Notes:

Lyrics originally translated 2004 (posted to my Geocities website). Edited 2010 and posted to Songlations at LJ, then moved to songlations.com.

Quierendo convertir / Los campos en ciudad
Wanting to turn / The open fields into cities [lit. city (singular)]

Si aún piensas algo en mí, / Sabes que sigo esperandote…
If even now you think of me (sometimes), / You know that I continue waiting for you…

(Si) <aún> {piensas} [algo en mí], {sabes} (que) {sigo} (esperandote)
(If) <still> {you think} [something of/about/regarding me], {you know} (that) {I continue} (waiting for you)

algo = lit. something
But in context, “sometimes” fits better (because it says “en mí” rather than “de mí”).

Estoy Aquí

“Estoy Aqui” for the search engines that don’t ignore accents

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