V.
Among things I search for a trace of You and find none.
All that my hearing touches is converted into silence,
the shore along which I am extended is destroyed.
Where are you? Why do you separate your face from mine?
Are you the enormous door which hides madness,
the wall which returns lament by lament?
Hope,
are you only a headstone?
VI.
I will not say with the others that you also forgot me.
I will not join the choir of those who despise you
nor follow the blasphemous army.
If you do not exist,
I will make you a resemblance of my longing,
an image of my anguish.
Petrified flame,
you will live in me as in your kingdom.
VII.
I love you to the farthest extremes:
the throbbing tips of the fingers,
the vibrating end of hair strands.
I believe in You with eyes closed.
I believe in Your fire, ever-renewed.
My heart expands to contain your scope.
VIII.
Your substance is made equal to that of the day
which follows the shadows, radiant and absolute.
Like rain, the promised grace
will descend in luminous ladders
to bathe our dry forehead.
Why this fever, then, if not to announce you?
Burning coals have cleansed my mouth.
I sing your praises before dawn.
50
Entrevista de prensa
Pregunta el reportero, con la sagacidad
que Ie da la destreza de su oficio:
--i,Por que y para que escribe?
--Pero, senor, es obvio. Porque alguien
(cuando yo era pequena)
dijo que gente como yo, no existe.
Porque su cuerpo no proyecta sombra,
porque no arroja peso en la balanza,
porque su nombre es de los que se olvidan.
Y entonces ... Pero no, no es tan sencillo.
Escribo porque yo, un dfa, adolescente,
me incline ante un espejo y no habfa nadie.
i,Se da cuenta? El vacfo. Y junto a mf los otros
chorreaban importancia.
No, no era envidia. Era algo mas grave. Era otra cosa.
i,Comprende usted? Las unicas pasiones
lfcitas a esa edad son metaffsicas.
No me malinterprete.
Y luego, ya madura, descubrf
que la palabra tiene una virtud:
si es exacta es letal
como 10 es un guante envenenado.
i,Quiere pasar aver mi mausoleo?
i,Le gusta este cadaver? Pero si es nada mas
una amistad inocua.
Y esta una simpatfa que no cuaj6 y aquel
no es mas que un feto. Un feto.
No me pregunte mas. i,Su clasificaci6n?
En la tarjeta dice arnor, felicidad,
10 que sea. No importa.
Nunca fue viable. Un feto en su frasco de alcohol.
Es decir, una poema
del libro del que usted hara el elogio.
51
Press Interview
Asks the reporter, with the cleverness
his office gives him:
"Why and for what do you write?"
But sir
it's obvious.
Because someone
D'l:1l111'.
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ea •• _
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II
i I NO Biiiiiii
said: people like you do not exist.
Because your body does not produce a shadow,
because it leaves no weight on the scale,
because your name is one of those forgotten.
And then ... but no, it is not that simple.
I write because, one day, adolescent,
I looked into a mirror and no one was there.
Do you see? A void. While so near to me others
spouted importance.
No, it wasn't envy. It was something graver. Something else.
Do you understand? Only metaphysical passions
are allowed at this time.
Do not misinterpret me.
And then, already ripened, I discovered
that the word has a power:
if exact, it is lethal,
as lethal as a poisoned glove.
Would you like to see my mausoleum?
Do you like this corpse? But it's no more than
a harmless friendship.
And this, an affection that did not take shape, and that over there
no more than a fetus. A fetus.
Do not ask me more. Its classification?
The card says love, happiness,
whatever. It's not important.
It was never viable. A fetus in its flask of alcohol.
That is to say, a poem
in a book which you will praise.
Dialogos con los hombres mas honrados
"Tal vez, bajo otro cielo, la vida nos sonrfa."
Hombre ingenuo, Porfirio con cara de caballo,
l,no alcanzaste a saber
que la vida no tiene ni aquf ni alIa ni antes
ni despues ni sonrisa?
"Es tan corto el amor y es tan largo el olvido."
Ay, Neruda, Neruda.
l,Con que vara mediste 10 continuo?
l, Que espesor de cabello te sirvi6 de frontera?
Porque un rIo cambia el nombre
segun el territorio que atraviesa
pero es siempre agua
--en la aridez y en el verdor--, impulso
hacia adelante, fuga, estruendo, v6rtice,
remanso, pero siempre agua, agua
y, por fin, el encuentro con el mar.
-
Un milagro: "Alcanzar
no 10 que habfas pedido
sino 10 que te dan."
Porque hay entre el tiempo
de pedir y el de dar
un tiempo verdadero:
el de cambiar.
"Me quiero despedir de tanta pena"
igual que tu, Miguel, pero soy mexicana
y en mi pafs tenemos ritos, costumbres, modos.
Si la pen a me dice que se va, me desvivo
por ser hopitalaria.
l,Se Ie ofrece un cafe? l,Una copita?
Que se quede otro rato.
Aun no es tarde y afuera hace mal tiempo
y hay tanto de que hablar todavfa. Hablaremos.
Alguna vez se va a poner de pie,
a pesar de mis suplicas,
y llegamos juntas a la puerta
y la abriremos y, a los cuatro vientos,
como aquf suele hacerse, seguiremos charlando.
Y temo que mi adi6s--si es que hay adi6s-se confunda'con una bienvenida:
la que preparo ya para la muerte.
53
"l,Como era, Dios mlo, como era?"
l,Como era quien, don Juan Ramon? l,0 que?
"Are en el mar."
Simon, l,hay otra parte
en que es po sible 0 necesario arar?
"Ayer naciste y morinis manana."
jDios mfo! l, Y mientras tanto?
"Reconocer que el otro existe, ya es amar."
Santa y sabia Simona l,que serfa
reconocer primero y despues aceptar?
EI Libro de los Muertos dice del que se salva
que no causo temor nunca y a nadie.
Y el portador del Libro, en su viaje, no encuentra
a ningun dios, a ningun heroe, a un genio
ni a ninglin animal, ni siquiera a una planta.
Encuentra solo soledad y tiembla
de miedo y con su miedo se empavorece el mundo
recuperando asf su ingrediente ensencial.
"Soy un harem y un hospital
colgados juntos de un ensueno."
Ram6n, por tu virtud unica de poeta
--que fue la de sentirte desollado-machihembraste en un verso nuestra raza,
nuestra historia y los dfas que vivimos:
pr6digo de sf el macho y la hembra vergonzante
de su sexo. Meciendose los dos
como se mece el pendulo
entre el placer culpable y la culpa sin placer,
extremos ambos, polos de un ambito vacfo
al que, cuando sofiamos, Ie decimos amor
•
1""r'\1t~
C011
nr\,rnh ...o
".o. ...r1~rlo. ...........
"Nadie elige su arnor," don Antonio. De acuerdo.
Pero, al rnenos, habrfa que aceptar
que cada uno elige su manera
de amar. 0 de no amar.
"La primera vez
no te conoci.
La segunda, sL"
Lo cual prueba, tan solo, Federico,
que es el hombre el 6nIco anImal
que tropieza dos veces contra la misma piedra.
Dialogues With Most Honored Men
"Perhaps, below another sky, life may smile on us."
Naive man, horse-faced Profirio.
Did you not grasp enough to know
that life has no here nor there, nor before
nor after, nor smile?
"Love is so short and forgetting is so long."
Ah, Neruda, Neruda.
With what stick did you measure the continuum?
What thickness of hair served you for a border?
Because a river changes its name
according to the territory it traverses,
but it's always water
--in dryness and in abundance--a forward
impulse, escape, tumult, vortex,
pool, but always water, water
and, at last, an encounter with the sea.
A miracle: "To reach
not what has been requested
but what was given you."
Because there is, between the time
of asking and that of giving,
a true time:
the time of change.
"I want to say goodbye to so much grief."
I agree with you, Miguel, but I am Mexican
and in my country we have rites, customs, ways of living.
If grief tells me it's leaving, I long
to be hospitable.
Should I offer coffee? A drink?
Stay a little while.
It's not yet late, and outside there's bad weather,
and there is much to speak of. We will talk.
But some time grief will rise to its feet,
despite my pleadings,
and we will go together to the door
and open it, and to the four winds,
as it's used to doing here, we will follow, chatting.
And I fear that my farewell--if it is a farewell-is confused with a welcome:
one which I already prepare for death.
56
"How was it, my God, what was it like?"
How was who, don Juan Ramon? Or what?
"I tilled the sea."
Simon, is there somewhere else
where it's possible or necessary to till?
"Yesterday you were born and tomorrow you will die."
My God! And in the meantime?
"Recognize the other exists, it is already to love."
Saintly and learned Simona, what would it be like
to recognize first and afterward to accept?
The Book of the Dead says that he who saves himself
never caused anyone fear.
And the bearer of the Book, in his travels, does not find
any god, any hero, any genius,
any animal, not even a plant.
He finds only solitude and trembles
with fright, and the world becomes frightened,
recovering its essential ingredient.
"I am a harem and a hospital
hanging together from a dream."
Ramon, by your only virtue as a poet
--that was that you felt revealed-you dove-tail in one verse our race,
our history and the days in which we live:
the bounty of the macho and the female ashamed
of her sex. Swinging the two
as a pendulum swings
between guilty pleasure and guilt without pleasure,
both extremes, poles of an empty boundary,
to which, when we dream, we speak love-but if its true name is admitted,
it's called solitude.
"Greet the sun, spider, don't be resentful."
Why should you be so if you have a corner
and a web to complete, and the sure instinct
of a weaver who weaves without questioning-neither motive nor end?
"No one chooses their love," don Antonio. I agree.
But, at least, I would accept
that each one chooses their manner
of loving. Or of not loving.
57
"The first time
I did not know you.
The second, yes."
Which proves only, Federico,
that man is the only animal
which stumbles twice against the same rock.
58
Parabola de la inconstante
Antes, cuando me hablaba a mf misma, decfa:
si yo soy 10 que soy
y dejo que en mi cuerpo, que en mis afios
suceda ese proceso
que la semilla Ie permite al arbol
y la piedra a la estatua, sere la plenitud.
Y acaso era verdad. Una verdad.
Pero, ay, amanecfa docil como la hiedra
a asirme a una pared como el enamorado
se ase del otro con sus juramentos.
Y luego yo esparcfa a mi alrededor, erguida,
en solidez de roble,
la rumorosa soledad, la sombra
hospitalaria y daba al caminante
--a su cuchillo agudo de memoria-el testimonio fiel de mi corteza.
Mi actitud era a veces el reposo
y otras el arrebato,
la gracia 0 el furor, siempre los dos contrarios
prontos a aniquilarse
y a emerger de las ruinas del vencido.
Cada hora suplantaba alguno; cada hora
me iba de algun meson desmantelado
en el que no encontre ni una mala bujfa
y en el que no me fue posible dejar nada.
Usurpaba los nombres, me coronaba de ell os
para arrojar despues, lejos de mf, el despojo.
Heme aquf, ya al final, y todavfa
no se que cara Ie dare ala muerte.
59
Parable of the Unfaithful Woman
Before, when I spoke to myself, I said:
if I am what I am
and I make room in my body, in my years
for that process
by which the seed allows the tree
and the stone the statue, I will be complete.
And perhaps it was true. One truth.
But, oh, I awoke docile as ivy
clinging to a wall like lovers
cling to one another with their promises.
And next, as solid as an oak,
erect, I would spread
the murmuring solitude, the welcoming
shadow, and give to the traveller
--to his memory-sharp knife-the faithful witness of my bark.
My position was at times rest
and at others rage,
grace or fury, the two always contrary,
quick to annihilate each other
and emerge from the ruins of the defeated.
Each hour supplanted another, each hour
I left some desmantled inn,
in which I did not find even a candle stub
and where I could leave nothing behind.
I usurped names, crowned myself with them
to later throw the remains far from me.
I am here, almost at the end, and still
I do not know how I will face death.
60
Salome
(a Sergio Magana)
PERSONAJES
Salome
La Madre
La Nodriza
El Hombre
Unos soldados
La acci6n en San Crist6bal, durante el porfiriato, en ocasi6n de una posible sublevaci6n de los
chamulas. En la casa del Jefe Politico. Una manana.
Estancia de una casa provinciana. Sob ria. Paredes de colores vivos. Una puerta que comunica
con el corredor. atra que conduce al resto de las habitaciones. Una ventana que da a la calle.
Allevantarse el telon la madre esta sentada, bordando Jrente a un bastidor. Se pone de pie para
recibir a Salome que viene del interior de la casa.
Madre
Amaneces, doncella, como el agua
de nuestras albas frias:
cuajada superficie de cristales
que enciende gozo entre los que la miran.
Vienes creciendo, esbelta, como el pino
que da hermosura a nuestra serranfa.
A los del valle nos preside, alto,
y a veces respiramos salud en sus resinas.
Los angeles que invoco
entrelacen sus alas para guardarte limpia
como cera de altar y como palma
bendita.
Salome
Madre, estoy des vel ada y en zozobra.
Siente en mi pecho, como en jaula angosta,
aletear la alarma.
Toda la noche of pasos furtivos
y gritos sofocados
y relinchos de potro entre las sombras.
Me levante descalza y aparte los visillos
que cubren la ventana:
como alucinaci6n vi cruzar velocfsimas
figuras embozadas
y brillar el relampago
de armas desenvainadas.
61
Madre
Los indios otra vez se han rebel ado
contra la autoridad. Y c1amorean
a un caciquillo torpe y ambicioso.
Salome
iQuien es?
Madre
No 10 conozco.
Pero tu padre sabe nombre y precio.
Salome
i Y si no tiene precio?
Madre
Otra victoria habra. Tu padre usa
tambien la mana fuerte.
Lo que miraste anoche fue una persecuci6n.
El cacique esta preso.
Salome
iTe 10 cont6 mi padre?
Madre
Desde hace afios
entre el y yo no hay vinculo
de palabra, de mesa, ni de lecho.
Peor que una soltera 0 que una viuda
mi castidad sin merito
se alza junto al esposo que detesto.
Salome
No quiero oirte hablar de esa manera.
iSiempre en tu boca la verdad, 10 mismo
que una espada de fuego!
Madre
i Que pondrfa en mi boca sino 10 que envenena
todo el dia mi sangre?
Mira esta casa: que sabidurfa
ha trazado sus pIanos;
que fortaleza yergue sus paredes
y que solicitud adorn6 habitaciones
y muebles.
iMirame ami, tascando
casa y destino como un freno aciago!
Voy por los corredores; mi ceguera no advierte
las macetas cuidadas,
ni el canario amarillo como el oro,
ni el follaje trensando armoniosas guirnaldas.
Pues a mi lado va mi juventud de virgen
pisoteada.
62
Cuando abro el comedor viene una ola
de perfume a mi cara:
la caoba y el cedro que me entregan
en una exhalaci6n toda su alma.
En las gavetas duerme su centella
la plata.
iAy, extiendo manteles de linD y la tristeza
no descansa!
Porque mi madurez come conmigo
su comida de higrimas.
A la cocina voy. Alegremente
gorgotea la marmita entre las llamas.
En el homo se cuece el pan de la mas tiema
entrafia.
iY lloro, presintiendo mi vejez
como hoguera apagada!
Salome
Donde no hubo amor. ..
Madre
Hubo amor. Y temura.
Y devoci6n. Y apego.
Hubo llegar a el, fervorosa, exaltada,
como quien llega a un templo.
Salome
Pero encontraste s6lo un dios trocado,
un fdolo de pies bamboleantes
y feos.
Madre
Mi talador, mi buitre
en los meses primeros.
Despues un congelado
espejo.
Me traicion6 con todas las mujeres,
con el hastio y el poder y el juego.
Vi entrar por esa puerta la embriaguez,
el grosero deseo
y la brutalidad del amo ante la sierva
y el desprecio.
Salome
l,Por que no huiste?
63
Madre
j.A donde? Mis herman as
tienen su propio infiemo.
Y fui educada para obedecer
y sufrir en silencio.
Mi madre en vez de leche
mi dio el sometimiento.
Salome
jOh, la mas desdichada! jCUanto rene or te muerde el seno!
Madre
Y en medio gratitud porque te tuve
como Agar a Ismael en el desierto:
mi punado de mirra, mi manantial secreto.
Yo me alzare ante el mundo para que no te hiera,
yo me adelantare a recoger los cardos
y apartare las piedras.
Salome (rechazandola)
Madre, quiero vivir y el amor tuyo
no me deja.
Tu carino me envuelve
tan sutil y tenaz como la niebla.
j Yo quiero ver el sol!
Madre
Te quedarfas ciega.
Salome, no es cordura hablar as!,
como quien no respeta.
Conffa en m!, conffa
en mi experiencia.
j. Que dana podra hacerte quien te ama
de sin igual manera?
Salome
Tu abrazos me asfixian
j yo quiero respirar en las praderas!
Madre
No temas, Salome. No tengo para ti
esta ciudad de procesiones lentas,
de campanarios desolados y
de sombrfas iglesias.
Yo te dare un puerto con navfos
y un cielo sin fronteras.
Salome
Quiero el amor.
Madre
El amor: la mazmorra, la cadena.
jNo sabes 10 que dices, estas local
64
Salome
Quiero el amor y su aniquilamiento.
Madre
jPerra, peor que perra!
Yo azotare tu cuerpo
hasta que huya el demonio
impudico y perverso.
Salome Cretirandose asustada)
Nunca te vi la colera...
Madre Cllorando)
jAh, me faltaba este punal, el ultimo,
para decir que muero!
CEntra la nodriza. Es india.)
Nodriza
Ama: la plaza hierve de rumores.
Todos vienen y van sin tina y sin concierto.
Los mercaderes venden tras las puertas
temblorosos de miedo.
jAh, senora, otra vez nos amenazan!
Como un aguila viven en los cerros
cemiendo su rapina
sobre el nido inocente del polluelo.
Salome
Es tu raza, nodriza.
Nodriza
Nina, olvide su lengua, no aprendf sus costumbres
y nunca use su ropa.
No digas que es mi raza.
No tengo mas familia
que esta casa.
Madre
No podran hacer nada. Hay guamicion valiente.
Nodriza
Senora, lno recuerdas 10 que han hecho?
Yo recuerdo la furia espumeando en su boca,
los machetes alzados en un gesto terrible,
su aullido de animal salvaje en el estrago.
jY los ojos inmoviles, de fdolo impasible presenciando!
Madre
Son como una manada. Sin pastor no caminan.
65
Nodriza
Tienen pastor. Un hombre
que a gritos pide la crucifixi6n
y exige su martirio.
Madre
No sera defraudado. Lo crucificaremos.
Salome
(, Tienes tu la justicia?
Nodriza
(,0 el poder?
Madre
El esta en nuestras manos. (, Quien es justo
con el vencido? (,quien no es homicida?
Salome
.81 no es un vencido todavfa.
Nodriza
.81 es un fugitivo.
Madre
(,Que dices?
Nodriza
Anoche algun guardian fue sobomado
o fue escalado un muro
o fue hecho un milagro.
Y los rebel des tienen otra vez
al que los acaudilla.
Madre (sarcastica)
Y tu padre jactandose de astucia,
alardeando de su sagacidad,
de su potencia.
jNo sabra defendemos, defender la ciudad
de una horda frenetica!
Nodriza
Los soldados pasean los portales
y vigilan los quicios.
Pero yo tengo miedo, senora, tengo miedo
de esta sangre que me anda por las venas
y que es la de ellos.
jSe me levantara como ola brava
reclamando el deguello!
Pues yo soy como malva trasplantada
en un solar que no es el de mi abuelo.
Madre
Tu correras la suerte de nosotros.
66
Nodriza
He de morir hasta una muerte ajena
puesto que amamante hijos que no eran mfos
y me crie en el patio de las huerfanas.
Salome
No te lamentes. Todos
nos salvaremos.
Nodriza
Aunque te salves tu, aunque no toquen
de tu madre un cabello,
a mf me arrastranin por los zaguanes
y ahoganin mi resuello.
Porque me odian como a rene gada
iY aun se cumplen en mf sus sortilegios!
Madre
Basta de fantasear. Acabanis
entronizando aquf el temor que tienes.
Y ese no es tu oficio, nodriza. Te entregue
(senalando a su hija)
este copo de lana
para que de el hilaras un dechado perfecto.
"y que me das? Potranca
de porfiada cerviz Y de ijares inquietos.
Nodriza
"Que hiciste, Salome?
Madre
Hoy hablaba de amor con desmandada lengua.
Reprendela, nodriza.
No des pabulo al fuego con tus consejas.
Nodriza
Asf 10 hare, senora.
Madre
Yo me voy. Los oficios
aguardan.
(A Salome)
Te quedaras aquf. "No tienes miedo?
Salome
No estoy sola.
67
Madre (contemplandola y besandola)
jHija, que el tiempo no te arrebatara,
que siempre fueras mfa como ahora!
(sale)
Salome
Nodriza, itu 10 viste cuando hufa?
i Ttl viste c6mo es? i Viste si tiene el rostro
de mi destino? i Tiene el ademan
que anunci6 mi esperanza?
jAh, nodriza!, £,por que no 10 llamaste,
por que no sofrenaste su caballo
y pusiste en la rienda el rumbo de mi casa?
Yo estoy aquf en a1cobas que ninguno
traspasa
y recorro vestfbulos
en vano destrenzada.
jCuantas veces mis ansias se estrellaron
~nte un ba1c6n de rejas intrincadas!
El se ira como el viento que no vuelve
Y yo me quedare como la hoja
cafda, abandonada.
No adivin6 mi fiebre ni mi angustia,
no me vio encadenada.
i Y c6mo me verfa cuando nadie me ha visto
entre tantas murallas encerrada?
jAh, nodriza! £,por que no 10 llamaste?
Nodriza
No se de que me hablas.
Salome
De ese hombre que es jefe entre los indios,
de quien esta atizando su venganza,
del que descargara sobre nuestros tejados
su sana.
Nodriza
No provoques al diablo, pues su espfritu
anda siempre rondando,
al acecho de un hombre para tomar figura
y malhaber sustancia.
Salome
Diablo 0 no, da 10 mismo.
131 es el que asomaba
en los augurios.
68
Nodriza
Todo era juego, nina.
Salome
No erajuego. (,Recuerdas? Venia entre un estruendo
como entre un galopar de innumerables cascos.
Y traia ese ceno terrible de los seres
en los que se realizan los designios ocultos.
Y venia, violento, a arrebatarme
en su impetu.
jEs el, nodriza, es ell Y este el momenta
en que mi larga espera se confirma.
Nodriza
jSi tu madre te oyera! Tu, manchando
tu pensamiento en una sucia imagen.
Lo vi ayer, 10 conozco. Es andrajoso,
amigo del ayuno y del cilcio.
(, Y crees que este es el hombre
que te tienen marcado las estrellas?
Salome
Yo lameria sus llagas si llagas me trajera.
Nodriza
Viene jinete en un caballo negro.
Salome
La plenitud se abre en la noche, igual
que un capullo secreto.
Nodriza
jAh, nina! (,que delirio te atormenta?
(,Que zumos has bebido? (,que maligno
conjuro has escuchado?
Salome
jAl dia en que se cumplen los agiieros
Ie llamas t6 funesto!
Nodriza (atrayendola hacia sf)
Recuestate en mi falda
10 mismo que 10 hacia
cuando eras pequena.
Acabas de pasar por un salon oscuro
y vienes aun pa.lida,
asustada,
y tu pulso ha corrido mas que t6
buscando claridad y compania.
Calmate, Salome, cierra los ojos
que miraron fantasmas.
Yo cui dare de ti, yo te protegere
como entonces, mi nina,
todavfa.
69
(Entra el hombre. Viene como huyendo. Es indio chamula y lleva
las insignias de jefe de su tribu)
Nodriza (con panico)
jEs ell
Salome (yendo hacia el hombre con las manos tendidas)
Senor, l,como acertaste a llegar hasta aquf?
Te ha guiado mi anhelo
cuando tanteabas entre pasadizos
y callejuelas sordidas.
Hombre (rendido)
Lajaurfa ladraba
mordiendo el calcafiar de mi fuga. Y yo vine
--no a librarme de la persecucion-j a caer en la trampa!
Salome (cierra la puerta por la que entr6 el hombre)
Hasta aquf no entranin con sus pesquisas.
Ni mi padre se atreve a pasar este umbral.
La casa
de tu enemigo es tu mejor refugio.
Hombre (receloso)
En las aceras, en los corredores
esta la tropa l,y tu no me delatas?
l,Es que ignoras quien soy? Soy un gran viento.
EI gran viento que llaman los tuyos: amenaza.
Salome
Lejos de los asuntos de los hombres
me crie. AlIa se avengan.
l, Tu no sabes quien soy y me rechazas?
Hombre
l,Quien eres?
Salome
La que aguarda.
(El hombre se vuelve, confuso y violento, hacia la nodriza)
Hombre
l, Y tu? l,Alcahueteas
los desvarios de tu ama?
Nodriza
Senor, ella fue criada de mis pechos
y durmio en mis canciones.
No ha conocido mas que la esperanza.
70
Hombre
i,La esperanza de quien?
Nodriza
Del que iba a venir.
Hombre
Y tu la enganas
sonando en sus oi'dos mi nombre. Y me traicionas
atandome las manos con nudo de confianza.
Nodriza (cayendo de rodillas)
Senor, no me castigues.
Yo no menosprecie a los de mi raza.
Pero entre ellos y entre todos soy
la despreciada.
Hombre (benevolo)
Sosiega tu camisa. No vine a castigar.
Vine a pedir piedad para mi hermano.
Porque si yo pidiera justicia, los pilares
de la ciudad se venddan abajo.
Salome
Senor, miro en tu frente la fatiga.
Hombre
El sueno y yo hace tiempo que nos enemistamos.
Y hace mas tiempo aun que no pruebo mai'z
ni me untan balsamos.
Y la demencia zumba alrededor de mi'
y vuelve y va y me acosa como un tabano.
Salome
Nodriza, en la alacena
guardabamos para hoy, para este hue sped,
10 mejor de las viandas.
Ha llegado la hora de ofrecerlas.
Nodriza
Yo las traere con toda reverencia.
(Va a saUro Pero antes se vuelve y dice al hombre, seftalando
a Salome)
Ahora queda anti ti, inerme y des valida
como un trozo de tierra ante el arado.
Hombre
Mira mis gestos: ni uno de ellos es
para el agravio.
71
(Sale la nodriza)
Salome
l, Y emil es mi lugar, senor, entre tus aetos?
No sustente mi euerpo ni reeibf la lluvia
sino para lIe gar hasta este instante.
Mframe: yo soy debil. Y no pude morir
aguardandote.
Pero ya estas aquf. Y hablar contigo
es como ir de paseo por el campo.
De golpe me devuelven
10 que me habfan robado:
los arboles atentos,
las ovejas pastando
y esa musica dulce del crepusculo
y sin lfmites, anehos, los sembrados.
Hombre
l,Como te llamas?
Salome
Salome. l,No es este el nombre
que descifraste cuando te inc1inabas
ansioso en las arenas?
Hombre
Nunca eserute el destin~.
Tu no tuviste nombre antes de ahora.
Te llamaras el pano
de Veronica.
Porque a la sed del profugo Ie diste
mas que una esponja con vinagre y mas
que una vana discupla a su congoja.
No importa tu color ni el escalon
de tu casta.
Mas cerea estas de rnf
que todas las mujeres de mi raza.
Salome
l,Me llevaras contigo? No tolero
mas agobio de celdas
ni mas ehales sombrfos encorvando mi espalda.
Quiero la seneillez
de tus sandalias.
Yo tejuro
que habre de merecer el seguir tus pisadas.
Hombre
Aceite vivo eres
de Ia mas viva lampara.
72
Salome (can exaltaci6n)
jAh, no ser un plantfo de duraznos
para decir palabras que me cubran de flores
en la hora propicia del verano!
jAh, no ser ni la antorcha de la fiesta,
ni el paso de la danza,
ni la guitarra de la serenata!
Hombre
Pero el hombre celebra la cosecha
con algo mas que himnos
y alabanzas.
Salome
Sf. Yo ahora conozco cual es mi parentesco
con Dios y con la tierra.
Y este conocimiento es silencioso.
Hombre
El silencio solemne del santuario.
(Entra la madre, arrebatada)
Madre
jSalome!
Salome (se vuelve a ella, sorprendida y atemorizada)
jMadre!
Madre
jVfbora, que temprano
lIenaste tu coirnillo de ponzofia!
Nadie duerma ya en paz sobre la almohada
creyendo que al tesoro que enterr6
no lIegara codicia de ladrones.
Nadie estime ala nieve,
nadie ensalce al cordero por sus vellones candidos,
nadie deje de hollar petalos delicados.
Pues Salome, la blanca,
ahora es roja como la vergtienza.
Salome
No merezco el insulto que dijiste.
Madre
No. Todos los insultos no bastan, son menores
que tu deli to. Ni uno de ellos llega
hasta donde ha llegado tu insolencia.
Yo tendrfa que ir como los cerdos
y que ensuciar mi boca donde hozan las piaras
para esparcir tu fama dignamente.
73
Salome
jAh, con que ligereza te entregas a la ira!
Yo he callado estos alios
que me enterraste en ti como el almacigo
entierra a la semilla.
Y ahora que te rompo
pues una ley mas grande
que tu y que yo me manda respirar,
crecer, buscar la vecindad del dfa
y mi natural fin y acabamiento,
te vuelves contra mf, como escorpi6n, dispuesta
a exterminarrne.
~adre(despechada)
Si no te hubiera amado,
si no hubiera querido servirte de coraza
donde todas las flechas se embotaran.
Salome (hacienda ademan de despedirse)
Madre, quiero llevarme tu perd6n.
~adre
jZorra, aparta!
En vano, en vano fue rasgar mi vientre,
en vano mi gemido y mi desvelo.
jAlegrate, mujer que no pariste,
regocfjate, esteril,
que no labraste, cuidadosa, el arma
que habfa de darte muerte!
Hombre
Partamos, Salome.
~adre
Partir. La criminal
y su c6mplice.
Mas aHa de estos muros que me sepultan hay
olvido, hay esperanza.
Y yo, como animal de noria, repitiendo,
una vez, otra, siempre, siempre, los mismos pasos.
Y la casa, que habran abandonado
las golondrinas que huyen del inviemo
y otra copia de pajaros.
Y el cimiento, al que al fin a1canz6 con su tunel
el gusano.
Y la ruina subiendo como hiedra
y abrazando los troncos hasta ahorcarlos.
Y la desolaci6n por todas partes,
espiando.
Y yo, como sonambula, de una pared a otra,
de un espejo al contrario,
golpeandome
y abriendo puertas que a nada conducen
74
sino a mostrarme un pozo de amarga soledad
y un jardfn arrasado.
jNo, no te vayas, Salome, moneda
ilnica que valfa entre mis manos!
Hombre
Desecha esta memoria, Salome,
esta tarde mirada detras de un vidrio turbio,
esta tos del enfermo
en la a1coba cerrada.
Yo te convidare de la alegrfa
que hay sentandose en tome de una alegra fogata.
Seras como una abeja en la col men a,
en el trabajo encontraras hermanos
y a un pueblo de pastores
se allegaran, felices, tus ganados.
Madre (yendo hacia la puerta que comunica con el corredor y cubriendola con su cuerpo)
No, no saldran de aquf. Antes yo me aliarfa
con el crimen, que permitir la fuga.
Demandare socorro, ire a postrarme
a los pies de tu padre si el puede detenerte.
Hombre (se abalanza bruscamente a la madre y la aparta de la puerta. Para impedir que grite
cubre su boca con la mano)
Pronto, Salome, abre. l,No te mueves?
l,Que titubeo es este?
Salome (como no queriendo creer 10 que ha visto)
Has golpeando a mi madre ...
Hombre
Queria arrebatarme el rehen que me salva.
Salome (at6nita)
Til tambien, til tambien ...
Hombre
De prisa, Salome, no hay tiempo, huyamos.
Salome (recuperandose)
l,Para que huir? Aqui, en su propio terreno
venceras a mi padre.
Ahora entiendo por que 10 desaffas.
Eres igual que e1. Vil y cobarde y malo.
Hombre (suplicante)
Salome ...
Salome (va ala ventana, abre y grita)
Apresuraos, guardianes, vuestra pres a esta aqui,
capturada.
Hallad aqui, soldados, ala anguila
que burl6 vuestra red. jA mf! jValedme!
75
(Un momento despues entran los soldados y prenden al hombre. Maniatado, a empellones 10
sacan de la habitaci6n. Desde la puerta se vuelve y dice)
Hombre
Salome, no supiste a 10 que te condenabas.
(Salen. La madre va hacia la ventana. Salome queda en el centro de la habitaci6n)
Salome
Madre, mujeres todas que antes de mf y conmigo
soportasteis un yugo de humillaci6n, bebisteis
un vase inicuo, jestais en mf vengadas!
Yo he rescatado vuestra esclavitud
al precio de mis lagrimas.
Yo he restaurado hoy el equilibrio
de la balanza.
Yo me reconoci, mas alIa de mi dicha,
heredera de la mitad oscura
del mundo, confinada
en la mitad sombrfa de la casa.
Cuando yo alce mi mane para el castigo, alee
todas las manos vuestras.
Y allibertar mi grito libertaba
el grito sofocado en martires gargantas.
Vosotras, lavadoras del paBal,
sumisas en ellecho,
vfctimas inmoladas en un ara nefanda,
sabedlo:
la acci6n de Salome
os abri6 una cancela.
Aunque ella se tapi6 para sf misma
la ultima rendija.
Madre (desde la ventana)
La multitud 10 cerca. Oye este griterio,
amenazandolo.
Sin piedad, escupidlo,
lapidadlo.
Quiere huir. Asf querrfa un rat6n
atrapado.
jQue no se escape, no!
(Se escucha una descarga de fusileria. La madre derre la ventana y, volviendose, dice con fria
calma)
Madre
Lo han matado.
Salome (en una gran voz)
jMi cuerpo, como el suyo, reclama su descanso!
Yo no ire mas alIa de 10 que fueron
sus pasos.
Pi do mi sepultura
76
y mi sudario.
Pido que se congreguen alrededor de mf
nueve noches rezando mis sufragios.
Madre
No llores. Salome, mas que la muerte
puede el olvido.
Olvidaras hasta tus cicatrices.
Salome (como delirando)
i,Por que no estas de luto?
i,No enterraste a tu hija?
Madre (energica)
Cese este desvarfo. Hoy es fecha
de regocijo, pues recupere
la prenda que querfa.
Salome
Escucha esas campanas. iQUe tristemente doblan!
Dicen que Salome fue transportada
a zonas mas clementes.
Madre
En tus oj os hay no se que extravio.
jMframe, Salome! i,No me conoces?
(Salome no atiende. Se lleva las manos ala garganta)
Salome
Una raiz, la gran raiz, se enrosca
en tomo de mi cuello.
jAh, su abrazo me ahoga!
Madre (sollozando)
Salome, no era el don que yo te preparaba,
no quise regalar la insania.
jAh, convertirme en sauce
y llorar, para siempre, en tus orillas!
Salome (mirando a su madre, con extraiieza, como sifuera una desconocida)
i,Por que sufres, senora?
Madre
jAh, desgracia, desgracia!
Correre los cerrojos,
abrire las ventanas.
Tienes el paso libre, Salome.
Anda.
77
Salome
(for Sergio Magana)
Characters
Salome
Her Mother
The Nurse
A Man
Soldiers
The story is set in San Cristobal, during the presidency of Porfirio Diaz, on the occasion of a
possible Indian uprising. In the home of the political boss. One morning.
A provincial home. Modest. Walls of bright colors. A door opening into the hall. Another
which leads to the rest of the rooms. A window which looks onto the street. As the curtain rises,
the mother sits embroidering opposite a frame. She rises to receive Salome, who enters from the
interior of the house.
Mother
You arise, maiden, like the water
of our cold dawns:
congealed surface of crystals
which lights pleasure among those who see it.
You arrive ripening, graceful, like the pine tree
that gives beauty to our sawmill.
Tall, it presides over us in the valley,
and sometimes we breathe health from its resins.
Let the angels I invoke
intertwine their wings in order to guard you, clean
like wax on the altar or the holy palms.
Salome
Mother, I am sleepless and anxious.
I feel in my breast, as in a narrow cage,
a fluttering alarm.
All night long I heard furtive footsteps
and suffocated cries
and the neighing of a colt among the shadows.
I arose, barefoot, and parted the lace curtains
covering the window:
like a hallucination, I saw stealthy figures
quickly crossing
and the brilliant lightning
of unsheathed weapons.
79
Mother
The Indians are rebelling again
against authority. And they clamour
for a dense and ambitious leader.
Salome
Who is it?
Mother
I don't know.
But your father knows his name and his price.
Salome
And if he has no price?
Mother
There will be a different victory. Your father also
uses a strong hand.
What you saw last night was a pursuit.
The leader is taken prisoner.
Salome
Did my father tell you about it?
,.-...
Mother
For many years,
there has been no bond between he and I,
no bond of word, of table, or of bed.
It is worse than being a spinster or a widow
my virtue worthless
rising next to a spouse I detest.
Salome
I don't want to hear you speak this way.
The truth is always in your mouth, just like
a sword of fire!
Mother
What could I put in my mouth besides that which poisons
my blood all day?
Look at this house: what wisdom
has designed its plan;
what strength erects its walls
and what diligence adorned rooms
and furnishings.
Look at me, chomping at
house and destiny like an ill-fated bridle!
I go into the halls; my blindness does not notice
the neat bouquets,
or the canary, as yellow as gold,
or the leaves weaving a harmonious garland.
80
-
Because at my side goes my trampled
virgin youth.
When I open the dining room, a wave of perfume
travels toward my face:
mahogany and cedar which give me
all their soul in an exhalation.
In the drawer sleeps its spark
the silver.
Oh, I extend tablecloths of linen and the sadness
doesn't rest!
Because my maturity eats its
meal of tears with me.
I go to the kitchen. The pot gurgles
happily among the flames.
On the stove bakes the most tender-hearted bread.
And I cry, forseeing myoid age
like an extinguished bonfire!,
Salome
When there was no love ...
-
Mother
There was love. And tenderness.
And devotion. And attachment.
I came to him, feverishly, exalted,
like one arriving at a temple.
Salome
But you met only a bartered god,
an idol of swinging and ugly
feet.
Mother
My lumberjack, my vulture
in the first months.
A~ter, a congealed
muror.
He betrayed me with all women,
with disgust and power and gambling.
I saw drunkenness enter through this door,
the vulgar desire
and the brutality of a master before a slave,
and scorn.
Salome
Why didn't you run away?
81
Mother
To where? My sisters
have their own hell.
And I was taught to obey
and suffer in silence.
Instead of milk, my mother
gave me submission.
Salome
Oh, most wretched! How resentment bites your breast!
Mother
And in the middle, gratitude, because I had you
like Hagar had Ishmael in the desert:
my handful of myrrh, my secret fountain.
I will rise before the world so it will not harm you,
I will go before you to collect the thistles
and I will remove the stones.
Salome (pushing her away)
Mother, I want to live, and your love
will not let me.
Your fondness surrounds me
like mist, so fine and tenacious.
I want to see the sun!
Mother
You may be blinded.
Salome, it is not sane to speak this way,
like who has no respect.
Trust in me, trust
in my experience.
What hurt can you receive from one who loves you
in such an unequalled manner?
Salome
Your arms suffocate me.
I want to breathe in the meadows!
Mother
Do not fear, Salome. I don't desire for you
this city of slow processions,
of desolate steeples and
gloomy churches.
I will give you a port full of ships
and a limitless sky.
Salome
I want love.
Mother
Love: a dungeon, a chain.
You don't know what you say, you are crazy!
82
Salome
I want love and its destruction.
Mother
Bitch, worse than a bitch!
I will whip your body
until the impudent, perverse demon
escapes.
Salome (drawing back, frightened)
Never have I seen you angry ...
Mother (crying)
Ah, I was lacking this dagger, the ultimate,
so to say that I am dying!
(The nurse enters. She is Indian.)
Nurse
Ma'am: the plaza bums with rumours.
Everyone comes and goes foolishly, without agreement.
The merchants sell behind doors
trembling with fright.
Ah, madam, they threaten us again!
Like an eagle, they live in the hills
threatening plunder
upon the chick's innocent nest.
Salome
It's your race, nurse.
Nurse
Child, I forgot their language, I did not learn their customs
and never wore their clothes.
Do not tell me it is my race.
I have no more family
than this house.
Mother
They can't do anything. There's a brave garrison.
Nurse
Madam, don't you remember what they have done?
I remember the fury foaming in their mouth,
the machetes lifted in a terrible gesture,
their wild animal howl in the havoc.
And the immobile eyes, eyes of an impossible witnessing idol!
Mother
They are like a flock. Without a shepherd they cannot walk.
83
Nurse
They have a shepherd. A man
who with shouts asks for crucifixtion
and demands his martyrdom.
Mother
He will not be disappointed. We will crucify him.
Salome
Do you have the right?
Nurse
Or the power?
Mother
He is in our hands. Who is right
with the defeated? Who is not a murderer?
Salome
He is not yet defeated.
Nurse
He is a fugitive.
Mother
What do you say?
Nurse
Last night some watchman was bribed
or a wall was climbed
or a miracle created.
And the rebels again have
one to command them.
Mother (sarcastically)
And your father brags of cleverness,
boasting of his shrewdness,
of his power.
He will not know to defend us, to defend the city
from a frantic hoard!
Nurse
The soldiers parade by the door,
watching the hinges.
But I am afraid, madam, I am afraid
of this blood that moves in my veins,
and that is theirs.
It will rise in me like a fierce wave,
reclaiming the sword!
Because I am like marrow transplanted
outside my grandfather's plot.
Mother
You will run our luck.
84
Nurse
I have to die even another's death
because I nursed children that were not mine
and was raised in the courtyard of the orphaned.
Salome
Do not lament. All
of us will be safe.
Nurse
Even though you are safe, even though they won't touch
a hair on your mother's head,
as for me, they will drag me through the halls
and choke my breath.
Because they hate me like a renegade
and still fulfill their sorcery in me!
Mother
Enought of fantasy. You will finish
upraising your fear here.
And this is not your role, Nurse. I gave you
(indicating her daughter)
this bundle of wool
so that you would spin a perfect sampler of it.
And what do you give me? Filly
of stubborn neck and in quiet flanks.
Nurse
What did you do, Salome?
Mother
Today she spoke of love in unruly language.
Scold her, nurse.
Do not fuel the fire with your advice.
Nurse
I will do so, madam.
Mother
I am going. I have chores
waiting.
(to Salome)
You will be left here. Aren't you afraid?
Salome
I am not alone.
85
Mother (contemplating and kissing her)
Child, may time not snatch you,
may you always remain mine as you are now!
(She leaves.)
Salome
Nurse, did you see when he escaped?
Did you see what he is like? Did you see if he has the face
of my destiny? Does he have the gesture
which announced my hope?
Ah, nurse, why didn't you summon him,
why didn't you stop his horse
and put the rein in the direction of my house?
I am here in a bedroom that no one
goes beyond
and I cross vestibules
unbraiding my hair in vain.
How many times my anxieties were smashed
before a railing of intricate bars.
He will go like a wind that does not change.
And I will remain like a fallen leaf,
abandoned.
He did not prophesy my fever or my anguish,
didn't see me chained.
And how could he see me when no one has seen me
enclosed between so many walls?
Ah, nurse, why didn't you call him?
Nurse
I don't know what you're talking about.
Salome
Of this man that is the leader of the Indians,
of he who is stoking their revenge,
of he who will unload his rage
upon our roofs.
Nurse
Do not tempt the devil, since his spirit
travels always haunting,
spying for a man to take on his figure
and to rob his substance.
Salome
Devil or no, it's the same.
He is the one who appeared
in the omens.
Nurse
It was all a game, child.
86
Salome
It was not a game. Do you remember? He came in a crash
as among a gallop of innumerable hoofs
and brought this terrible frown of beings
in which occult intentions are carried out.
And came, violent, to snatch me away
in his momentum.
It is him, nurse, it's him! And this the moment
in which my long wait is confirmed.
Nurse
If your mother could hear you ! You, staining
your thoughts with a dirty image.
I saw him yesterday, I know him. He's ragged,
friend of fasting and of the hair-shirt.
And you believe this is the man
that the stars have marked for you?
Salome
I would lick his wounds if he would bring them to me.
Nurse
A rider comes on a black horse.
Salome
Fullness opens in the night, like
a secret bud.
Nurse
Oh, child! what delirium torments you?
What potion have you drunk? What evil
spell have you listened to?
Salome
You name ill-fated
the day in which omens are fulfilled!
Nurse (channing Salome)
Lean into my skirt,
the same as you did
when you were small.
You have just passed a darkened room
and you arrive pale,
frightened
and your pulse has run beyond you
searching clarity and companionship.
Calm yourself, Salome, close those
phantom-seeing eyes.
I will care for you, I will protect you now,
my child,
as I did then.
(The man enters. He comes like one fleeing. He is chamula and wears the insignia of a tribal
leader.)
87
Nurse (with panic)
It's him!
Salome (going to the man with outstreched hands)
Sir, how did you guess to enter here?
My desire has led you
when you chose between passages
and sordid side streets.
Man (wearily)
The pack of hounds barked
biting the heel of my flight. And I came
--not to liberate myself from persecution-to fall into a trap!
Salome (closes the door through which the man had entered)
They will not enter as far as here with their inquiries.
Nor does my father dare to pass this threshold.
The house
of your enemy is your best refuge.
Man (suspicious)
On the sidewalks, in the corridors,
there are troops, and you do not report me?
Is it that you ignore who I am? I am a grand wind.
A grand wind that your people call: threat.
Salome
Far from the matters of men
I was raised. There they may reconcile.
Do you not know who I am, and resist me?
Man
Who are you?
Salome
She who waits.
(The man turns, confused and violent, to the nurse)
Man
And you? Do you squeal
the ravings of your mistress?
Nurse
Sir, she was nursed at my breasts
and slept to my songs.
She has not known
more than hope.
Man
Whose hope?
88
Nurse
Of that who was coming.
Man
And you deceive her
sounding my name in her ears. And you betray me,
tying my hands with the knot of confidence.
Nurse (falling to her knees)
Sir, do not rebuke me.
I did not scorn those of my race.
But between them, and among all, I am
the scorned.
Man (benevolent)
Calm yourself. I did not come to reprimand.
I came to ask for mercy for my brother.
Because if I asked for justice, the pillars
of the city might tumble.
Salome
Sir, I see you look weary.
Man
It's been a long time since sleep and I became enemies.
And it's been even longer since I don't try com
nor do they smear me with balm.
And the dementia swirls around me
and comes and goes and hounds me like a horsefly.
Salome
Nurse, in the cupboard
we have guarded for today, for this guest,
the best of the food.
The hour of offering them has arrived.
Nurse
I will bring them, with all reverence.
(She turns to leave. But before she does, she returns and says to the man, indicating Salome:)
Now she remains before you, unarmed and helpless,
like a piece of earth before the plow.
Man
See my gestures: not one of them is
to do wrong.
(The nurse leaves.)
89
-
Salome
And which is my place, sir, between your acts?
I didn't sustain my body nor received the rain
but to arrive at this instant.
Look at me: I am weak. And I couldn't die
waiting for you.
But already you are here. And speaking with you
is like walking through the country.
In one blow that which they robbed me of
is returned to me:
the watchful trees
the ram grazing
and the sweet music of twilight
and the broad sown fields, endless.
Man
What is your name?
Salome
Salome. Is this not the name
that you deciphered when you bowed
anxiously in the sands?
Man
I never examined destiny.
You had no name before now.
I will call you cloth
of Veronica.
Because you give to the thirst of the fugitive
more than a sponge with vinegar and more
than a vain excuse for his anguish.
Your color is not important, nor the height
of your class.
You are so much closer to me
than all the women of my race.
Salome
Will you take me with you? I cannot tolerate
more cell-like oppression
nor more shaded shawls bending my back.
I want the simplicity
of your sandals.
I swear to you
that I will deserve to follow your footsteps.
Man
You are the living oil
of the most vivid lamp.
90
Salome (exalted)
Oh, if I could only be a bed of peaches
to say words which cover me in flowers
in the favorable hour of spring!
Oh, if I could be the party torch,
the dance step
the guitar of the serenade!
Man
But man celebrates the harvest
with something more than hymns
and praises.
Salome
Yes. Now I know my relationship
with God and with the earth.
And this knowledge is silent.
Man
The solemn silence of the sanctuary.
(The mother enters, overcome).
Mother
Salome!
Salome (turning to her, surprised andfrightened)
Mother!
Mother
Viper, how early
you have filled your tooth with poison!
Let no one sleep in peace on the pillow
believing that thieves' greed
will not reach the buried treasure.
Let no one estimate the snow,
let no one exalt the lamb for its innocent fleece,
let no one choose to trample delicate petals.
Because Salome, white,
is now red like vengeance.
Salome
I do not deserve your insult.
Mother
No. All of the insults are not enough, they are less
than your crime. Not one reaches
the level of your insolence.
I would have to go like the pigs
and dirty my mouth where herds root
in order to scatter your reputation appropriately.
91
Salome
Oh, with what speed you agilely give to anger!
I have been silent these years
in which you buried me in you like a nursery
buries a seed.
And now that I break you
because a law larger
than you and me orders me to breathe,
to grow, to search the neighborhood of the day
and my natural end and completion
you tum against me, like a scorpion, prepared
to exterminate me.
Mother (spiteful)
If I had not loved you,
if I had not wanted to serve you, protecting
you where all arrows are blunted.
Salome (making a gesture of dismissal)
Mother, I want to take your pardon with me.
Mother
Whore, out of my sight!
In vain, the tearing of my womb,
in vain my groaning and my sleeplessness.
Be happy, woman who has never given birth,
rejoice, sterile one
because you did not fashion, carefully, the weapon
that was to give you death!
Man
Let's go, Salome.
r-'
Mother
Depart. The criminal
and her accomplice.
Far from the walls that entomb me there is
forgetting, there is hope.
And I, like an animal on a waterwheel, repeating,
one time, another, always, always, the same paths.
And the house which the sparrows
must have abandoned, to escape winter
and the other flocks of birds.
And the foundation, which at last the worm reached
with its tunnel.
And the ruin, rising like ivy
and embracing the trunks until they hang themselves.
And the desolation in all places,
spying.
And I, like a sleepwalker, from one wall to the other,
from one mirror to the opposite,
striking myself.
and opening doors which lead nowhere
except to show me a well of bitter solitude
92
(A moment later the soldiers enter and capture the man. They tie his hands and push him from
the room. At the door he turns and speaks)
Man
Salome, you do not know to what you have condemned yourself.
(They leave. The mother goes to the window. Salome in the center of the room).
Salome
Mother, all women who before me and with me
withstood a yoke of humilation, drank
a wicked glass, they are avenged in me!
I have recovered your slavery
at the price of my tears.
I have restored today the equilibrium
of the balance.
I recognized myself, so far from my happiness,
heiress of the dark half
of the world, confined
in the shadowed half of the house.
When I lifted my hand to punishment, I lifted
all of your hands.
And in liberating me, my scream liberated
the suffocated scream in martyrs' throats.
You, washers of diapers,
docile ones in bed,
sacrifical victims at an abominable altar
know it:
Salome's act
opened a gate for you.
Although she walled herself in,
the ultimate rift.
Mother (from the window)
The mob surrounds him. Hear this shouting,
threatening him.
Spit on him without pity,
stone him.
He wishes to escape. Like a trapped rat
would wish.
Oh, may he not escape, no!
(Gunshots are heard. The mother closes the window and, turning, says with cold calmness)
Mother
They have killed him.
Salome (in a grand voice)
My body, like his, reclaims its rest!
I will not go so very far from where
his steps have gone.
I ask for my sepulchre
and my shroud.
94
I ask that they congregate around me
praying for nine nights.
Mother
Don't cry, Salome, more than death
forgetting can be able.
You will forget even your scars.
Salome (like one delirious)
Why aren't you mourning?
Don't you bury your child?
Mother (energetically)
Stop this absurdity. Today is the date
of joy, because I recovered
the pledge for which I wished.
Salome
Listen to the bells ~ How sad they ring!
They say that Salome was transported
to more merciful places.
Mother
There is an unfamiliar loss in your eyes.
Look at me, Salome! Don't you know me?
(Salome does not pay attention. She puts her hands to her throat.)
Salome
A root, the largest root, is coiled
around my neck.
Ah, its embrace smothers me!
Mother (sobbing)
Salome, this was not the gift I had prepared for you.
I did not want to make a gift of insanity.
Oh, transform me into a willow
to cry, forever, at your side!
Salome (looking at her mother oddly, as if she were a stranger)
Why do you suffer, madam?
Mother
Oh, desgrace, des grace !
I will pull the bolts,
I will open the window.
You will have freedom, Salome!
Walk.
-
Salome
Leave me here, madam,
in the quietest comer of the house.
I will not make noise, I will not be a bother,
I will say nothing.
95
(The nurse enters. With the sad expression of one who saw it all)
Nurse
Child!
Salome (going to her)
I am going to sleep, nurse.
(The nurse adjusts Salome in her lap. Cooing.)
Nurse
Curl up to dream,
curl up,
weave for my child
the softest cushion.
For her temple shattered
by hail.
At your knees, earth,
I deposit her.
Be soft with her aching
body.
Cover yourself with dewy
pastures.
Ashes of hot coals,
breath of the steer,
do not abandon her
along the path.
Oh, that where her heart goes
coldness may not.
CURTAIN
96
97
Works Cited
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Alarcon, Norma. Rosario Castellanos' Feminist Poetics: Against the Sacrificial Contract.
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Allgood, Myralyn F. Another Way of Being: Selected Works of Rosario Castellanos.
Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 1990.
Bonifaz, Oscar. Remembering Rosario: A Personal Glimpse into the Life and Works of
Rosario Castellanos. Tr. and ed. Myralyn F. Allgood. Foreward by Edward D.
Terry. Potomac, MD: Scripta Humanistica, 1990.
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U Texas Press, 1995.
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