A Tear in Suspension

Dark Eyes calls for Pugliese's Una lágrima and takes La Argentina by the hand, wordlessly leading her to the floor of the milonga. He knows that this song, with its lazy rhythm and story of a ruined innocent, will speak to her heart in a way that he never will be able to.

Cuando rodó, cual gota cristalina, sobre su faz, la lágrima de amor, me pareció su cara tan divina - un lirio azul besado por el sol.

When that crystal tear rolled down your face, that tear of love, your face seemed so divine - a blue iris kissed by the sun.

They never speak on the milonga floor, observing the rule of silent conversation that is at the heart of tango. Pugliese reaches across a continent and 40 years and speaks to Dark Eyes and La Argentina, pouring from his heart this story of a young girl whom love left in a veil of tears, never to return to the love that took her innocence.

La Argentina asks Dark Eyes for surrender at the apex of his salida, and he consents. They dance as though there is no one else in the world, and as the song tapers off in its bitter sadness, their steps slow to a stop, and for the first time, La Argentina gives her face fully to Dark Eyes. He releases her from his embrace and touches the gentle back of his hand to her cheek.

It comes away wet. She is smiling.