El Amor Es Un Centro
Mario Benedetti Lyrics

The lyrics of Mario Benedetti's song "El Amor Es Un Centro" paint a complex and multifaceted picture of love, exploring its many dimensions and contradictions. The opening lines depict love as a mixture of hope, barrenness, and scarcity, capturing the dichotomy of abundance and scarcity that often characterizes romantic relationships. The reference to love as a minefield suggests the potential for danger and destruction in matters of the heart, highlighting the risk and vulnerability involved in opening oneself up to love.

As the lyrics progress, the imagery becomes more intricate, comparing love to a jubilee of the blood and incorporating symbols of spirituality and transformation such as chalice and moss, cross and sesame. These elements suggest that love is a profound and transcendent experience that can bring both peace and turmoil, unity and division. The mention of an open dream and a center with few branches hints at the expansive nature of love, which can be all-encompassing yet also isolating, with a sense of vastness but also limitation.

The imagery of love as a fire that will turn to ashes emphasizes the impermanence and fragility of love, highlighting its ephemeral nature and inevitable transformation. The use of religious motifs such as chalice and cross alongside more earthly elements like moss and sesame further underscores the complexity of love as a concept that transcends both the physical and the spiritual realms. The lyrics suggest that love is both a tangible reality and a fleeting illusion, a tangible force with intangible qualities that defy easy categorization.

In the final lines, the comparison of love to an artichoke that gradually reveals its mysteries conveys the idea that love is a process of discovery and unraveling, where each layer reveals new depths and complexities. The image of a lingering anxiety or ghostly presence hints at the lingering uncertainties and insecurities that often accompany love, suggesting that even as love evolves and matures, there is always an element of doubt and vulnerability. Overall, these lyrics capture the intricate, enigmatic, and ever-evolving nature of love, portraying it as a journey of exploration, revelation, and introspection.