Mariano
By: Robert Earl Keen
Capo 2nd Fret
Am F
The man outside he works for me, his name is Mariano
Am C G
He cuts and trims the grass for me he makes the flowers bloom
Am F
He says that he comes from a place not far from Guanajuato
Am G Am
Thats two days on a bus from here, a lifetime from this room.
Am F
I fix his meals and talk to him in my old broken spanish
Am C G
He points at things and tells me names of things I can't recall
Am F
Sometimes I just can't but help but wonder who this man is
Am G Am
And if when he is gone will he remember me at all
Am F
I watch him close he works just like a piston in an engine
Am C G
He only stops to take a drink and smoke a cigarette
Am F
When the day is ended, I look outside my window
Am G Am
There on the horizon, Mariano's silhouette
Am F
He sits upon a stone in a south-easterly direction
Am C G
I know my charts I know that he is thinking of his home
Am F
I've never been the sort to say I'm in to intuition
Am G Am
But I swear I see the faces of the ones he calls his own
Am F
Their skin is brown as potters clay, their eyes void of expression
Am C G
Their hair is black as widow's dreams, their dreams are all but gone
Am F
They're ancient as a vision of a sacrificial virgin
Am G Am
Innocent as crying from a baby being born
Am F
They hover around a dying flame and pray for his protection
Am C G
Their prayers are all but answered by his letters in the mail
Am F
He sends them colored figures that he cuts from strips of paper
Am G Am
And all his weekly wages, saving nothing for himself
Am F
It's been a while since I have seen the face of Mariano
Am C G
The border guards they came one day and took him far away
Am F
I hope that he is safe down there at home in Guanajuato
Am G Am
I worry though I read there's revolution every day...
