n inspired and fine poet, he has transferred his heartfelt words with clear popular roots to the tango poetry in pieces committed to disc by Aníbal Troilo, Roberto Goyeneche, Floreal Ruiz, Rubén Juárez, Roberto Rufino, Hernán Salinas, Nelly Vázquez, Julia Sandoval, Rosanna Falasca, Patricia Vel and other outstanding artists. His poetical way of singing is exactly evidenced in tangos like “Dice una guitarra” o “Llevo tu misterio”.

He was born in Chacabuco, province of Buenos Aires, where he spent his early years of teenager and student.

He composed his first tango song “Qué solo estás corazón” in 1955. It was followed by “Trasnoche de ilusión”, “Empinao”, “Hoy estás aquí”, “Con las pocas palabras”, “Un hombre al fin”, “Todo es cruel”, “Este bandoneón”, “Todo es un berretín de tome y traiga”, “Soñar por la ciudad”, “Buenos Aires conoce”, among others. They were all set to music by his brother Raúl

What a nice idea his brother, maestro Raúl Garello, had! He published a book with Rubén’s oeuvre, “Bolsillos Azules”, by Editorial Corregidor. For that, he was helped by his daughter Martina, who made a neat, careful compilation of the work of this great contemporary poet. I was honored with the privilege of writing its foreword, which I adapted for this simple, touching portrayal.

He was one of the many men that came from the interior of the country to the big city —like Homero Expósito, like Homero Manzi— who fell for its streets and its people and who put into poetry the inspiring feeling of the orb. He joined the trend of a series of poets that were looking for their way of expression in tango, such as Héctor Negro, Eladia Blázquez or Mario Iaquinandi.

Lonely characters that track down happiness along streets, at cafes, at hotels. Street walkers that long for love which, finally, is the greatest human necessity. Anguished pilgrims that shed a tear with a glass of wine, without losing the hope of returning.

“Hoy ya no es ayer/se perdió su voz./Tal vez en algún bar/la vuelva a ver.” (Today is no longer yesterday/her voice is gone./Maybe at some barroom/ I’ll see her again.)

And always the city is there, like a constant that has caught the poet, who does not hide his passion.

“Refugio de mis largas madrugadas/abrigo de mi verso y de mi sino./Su cielo de gorrión, su luna triste/son cosas que también viven conmigo.” (Haven of my long early mornings/shelter of my verse and my fate./Its sparrow’s sky, its blue moon/ are things that also live with me.)

In Rubén Garello’s poetry the need of light illuminating beauty comes to the surface. And in the lines of this book we can notice the continuous inspiration of a poet who did not stop giving us his stanzas in which bitterness crashed against its counterweight. In them the possibility of beginning a better way of life is stated:

“Puede ser, que hoy estés/ensombrecido de desolación, buscando a veces otra solución/sin ver que en vos está la única verdad.” (Maybe today you are /among the shadows of desolation, in search of another solution/ without noticing that the only truth in within you.)

In the compilation of his oeuvre we have the Rubén Garello’s songs, that even without the beautiful melodies written by Raúl, they do not discolor. Besides this songbook, in many cases favored by a deserved success, poems which were not accompanied by music are revealed in a deep, touching show that brings us another aspect of Rubén Garello’s oeuvre, thought only for the oral promenade that we pleasantly walk and which comes to us from “blue pockets” to our heart.

This sample of love is the rescued Rubén’s poetry. He passed away when he still had things to say but he abides with us because of what he fortunately said.