Coloured ribbon and gold buttons

"Giro un poco la cabeza para observar su perfil y vio una figura elegante y tranquila que aun seguia preguntandose como era posible que tres metros de pano, una docena de botones dorados, unas cintas bicolores y unas estrellas de laton envolviendo su cuerpo tuvieron tanto poder para predisponerlo a la punctualidad, a la audacia y al trabajo bien hecho."

("He turned his head slightly to look at his profile and he saw an elegant and calm figure still asking himself how it was possible that three metres of cloth, a dozen gold buttons, some two-coloured ribbons and a few tin stars around his body could have so much power to predispose him to punctuality, audacity and work well done." transl. SG)

Eugenio Fuentes, Cuerpo a Cuerpo, Colleccion Andanzas, Tusquet Editores, Barcelona 2007, p.41