Yo adivino el parpadeo
De las luces que a lo lejos
Van marcando mi retorno

Son las mismas que alumbraron
Con sus pálidos reflejos
Hondas horas de dolor

Y aunque no quise el regreso
Siempre se vuelve al primer amor
La vieja calle donde el eco dijo
Tuya es su vida, tuyo es su querer

Bajo el burlón mirar de las estrellas
Que con indiferencia hoy me ven volver
Volver con la frente marchita
Las nieves del tiempo platearon mi sien

Sentir que es un soplo la vida
Que veinte años no es nada
Que febril la mirada, errante en las sombras
Te busca y te nombra

Vivir con el alma aferrada
A un dulce recuerdo
Que lloro otra vez

Tengo miedo del encuentro
Con el pasado que vuelve
A enfrentarse con mi vida

Tengo miedo de las noches
Que pobladas de recuerdos
Encadenan mi soñar

Pero el viajero que huye
Tarde o temprano detiene su andar
Y aunque el olvido, que todo destruye
Haya matado mi vieja ilusión

Guardo escondida una esperanza humilde
Que es toda la fortuna de mi corazón
Volver con la frente marchita
Las nieves del tiempo platearon mi sien

Sentir que es un soplo la vida
Que veinte años no es nada
Que febril la mirada, errante en la sombra
Te busca y te nombra

Vivir con el alma aferrada
A un dulce recuerdo
Que hoy lloro otra vez

Overall Meaning

In Ana Guerra's song Volver, she sings about the nostalgia of returning home after a long time away. She begins by describing how she can predict the flickering of the lights in the distance that mark her return. These same lights had illuminated the long hours of pain she had experienced in the past. Despite not wanting to go back, she acknowledges that one always returns to their first love. She mentions the old street where the echo proclaimed "yours is its life, yours is its love" and how the stars jest at her return with their indifferent gaze. She feels like time has aged her with its snows, yet life is merely a fleeting breath.

Guerra reflects on the past that she has left behind, and the fear of confronting it. She worries about the nights that are full of memories that tie her dreams, and the meeting with the past that she is hesitant to face. Nevertheless, she understands that a traveler, no matter how far they flee, needs to stop and eventually acknowledge their past. Even though her old illusions have been destroyed by forgetfulness, she still clings to the humble hope that resides in her heart. She concludes with the repetition of the chorus, reminding the listener that living with a precious memory and crying over it once more is better than not living at all.

Line by Line Meaning

Yo adivino el parpadeo
I sense the flicker

De las luces que a lo lejos
Of distant lights

Van marcando mi retorno
Marking my return

Son las mismas que alumbraron
They are the same ones that shone

Con sus pálidos reflejos
With their pale reflections

Hondas horas de dolor
Deep hours of pain

Y aunque no quise el regreso
And even though I didn't want to return

Siempre se vuelve al primer amor
One always returns to their first love

La vieja calle donde el eco dijo
The old street where the echo said

Tuya es su vida, tuyo es su querer
Yours is their life, yours is their desire

Bajo el burlón mirar de las estrellas
Under the mocking gaze of the stars

Que con indiferencia hoy me ven volver
Who today watch me return with indifference

Volver con la frente marchita
Returning with a withered face

Las nieves del tiempo platearon mi sien
The snows of time have silvered my temples

Sentir que es un soplo la vida
Feeling that life is but a breath

Que veinte años no es nada
That twenty years is nothing

Que febril la mirada, errante en las sombras
That the feverish gaze wanders in the shadows

Te busca y te nombra
Searching and naming you

Vivir con el alma aferrada
Living with the soul clinging

A un dulce recuerdo
To a sweet memory

Que lloro otra vez
That I cry for again

Tengo miedo del encuentro
I am afraid of the encounter

Con el pasado que vuelve
With the past that returns

A enfrentarse con mi vida
To face my life once more

Tengo miedo de las noches
I am afraid of the nights

Que pobladas de recuerdos
That are populated with memories

Encadenan mi soñar
That chain up my dreaming

Pero el viajero que huye
But the traveler who flees

Tarde o temprano detiene su andar
Sooner or later stops in their tracks

Y aunque el olvido, que todo destruye
And even though forgetfulness, which destroys everything

Haya matado mi vieja ilusión
May have killed my old illusion

Guardo escondida una esperanza humilde
I keep hidden a humble hope

Que es toda la fortuna de mi corazón
That is all the fortune of my heart

Lyrics © DistroKid, BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Carlos Gardel, Alfredo Le Pera

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind