Pan de Yuca Ballad, by Hernando Martínes Rueda -Martinón- (own translation)*

It's the best thing to bite,

pandeyuca we all must have

Pandeyuca is a gem

from colonial times

our grandparents didn´t know

how without pandeyuca dine;

often dipped in chocolate,

it can also be filled

and with blackberry or fig preserve

even a cardinal would be thrilled

When things get messed up

pandeyuca we all must have

To prepare pandeyuca

one must an apron slip on

make the dough with cottage cheese,

salt, starch, water, and also yolks;

yeast…you don’t need at all

to make it´s volume rise

just to knead the little buns

and let them brown before your eyes.

When luck gets a little spooky

pandeyuca we need, not cookies

It is like a glass of nepentes

for those who try to forget:

Asian people take opium

the English veronal ingest;

in Egypt they eat lotuses,

in Turkestan they chew hashish;

here we eat pandeyuca

and can’t remember a single thing.

When the government falls apart

pandeyuca we all must have

A Japanese does hara-kiri,

a German drinks cyanide;

Cleopatra lets into her breast

a deathly coral snake slide,

Petronius cuts his veins,

Neron stabs himself with a knife

Here we eat pandeyuca

we won’t commit suicide.

When luck comes to crush us

for pandeyuca we all must rush

Savoranola is consumed

on the inquisitorial pyre;

the Admiral’s flagship burns

in Trafalgar, in a bonfire

and Adolf Hitler scorches

in his bunker in Wilhelmplatz

Take the pandeyuca out of the oven

before it’s late and it turns damn black!

You don't have to die like Churruca,

Just have to have some pandeyuca

Tiberius is exiled to Capri

Cincinnatus starts to plow

Napoleon in Saint Helena

ruminates on his long war

Carlos V meditates in Yuste

and Felipe in El Escorial

we sit tightly in the pantry

nobody comes to bother us.

Prince: glory has expired;

Pandeyuca we all must have

* If the English version is not available, the author of the blog offers her own translation.