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 'B ... ~ D'l:1l111'. 0 ea •• _ .~_. - ....... - - - - --- - - - - -

•• 18ft 1'1 .... 0

III 0" 11100 0_0

III ii 111,1 :I~I ~ t~ ~"II001 1111111 I IIIB Blllall II n,n, 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

Madre

i Y si no tiene precio?

Otra victoria habra. Tu padre usa tambien la mana fuerte. Lo que miraste anoche fue una persecuci6n. El cacique esta preso.

Salome

Madre

iTe 10 cont6 mi padre?

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

Madre

No quiero oirte hablar de esa manera. i Siempre en tu boca la verdad, 10 mismo que una espada de fuego!

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. i Y lloro, presintiendo mi vejez como hoguera apagada!

Salome

Madre

Donde no hubo amor. ..

Hubo amor. Y temura. Y devoci6n. Y apego. Hubo llegar a el, fervorosa, exaltada, como quien llega a un templo.

Salome

Madre

Pero encontraste s6lo un dios trocado, un fdolo de pies bamboleantes y feos.

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

Madre

jOh, la mas desdichada! jCUanto rene or te muerde el seno!

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

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!

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

Madre

Tu abrazos me asfixian j yo quiero respirar en las praderas!

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

Madre

Quiero el amor.

El amor: la mazmorra, la cadena. jNo sabes 10 que dices, estas local

64

Salome

Madre

Quiero el amor y su aniquilamiento.

j Perra, 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. j Ah, 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

Madre

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.

No podran hacer nada. Hay guamicion valiente.

Nodriza

Madre

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!

Son como una manada. Sin pastor no caminan.

65

Nodriza

Madre

Tienen pastor. Un hombre que a gritos pide la crucifixi6n y exige su martirio.

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

Madre

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.

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

Madre

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!

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

Madre

"Que hiciste, Salome?

Hoy hablaba de amor con desmandada lengua. Reprendela, nodriza. No des pabulo al fuego con tus consejas.

Nodriza

Madre

Asf 10 hare, senora.

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. j Cuantas 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.

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(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.

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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 j Vfbora, 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

Madre

No merezco el insulto que dijiste.

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

~adre

Partamos, Salome.

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!

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(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, j estais 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

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Madre

y mi sudario. Pido que se congreguen alrededor de mf nueve noches rezando mis sufragios.

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

Madre

a zonas mas clementes.

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.

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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.

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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.

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- 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?

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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.

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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.

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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.)

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- 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.

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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.

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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.

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,

r-' striking myself. and opening doors which lead nowhere except to show me a well of bitter solitude

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(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

Ahem, Maureen, ed. A Rosario Castellanos Reader. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1988.

Alarcon, Norma. Rosario Castellanos' Feminist Poetics: Against the Sacrificial Contract.

ill diss., 1983.

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.

Child, Jack. Introduction to Spanish Translation. Lanham, MD: University Press of America,

1992.

Kaminsky, Amy K. Reading the Body Politic: Feminist Criticism and Latin American

Women Writers. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1993.

O'Connell, Joanna. Prospero's Daughter: The Prose of Rosario Castellanos. Austin, TX:

U Texas Press, 1995.

98

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Bibliography

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Ahem, Maureen, ed. A Rosario Castellanos Reader. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1988.

Alarcon, Norma. Rosario Castellanos' Feminist Poetics: Against the Sacrificial Contract.

ill diss., 1983.

Allgood, Myralyn F. Another Way of Being: Selected Works of Rosario Castellanos.

Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 1990.

Anderson, Helene M. "Rosario Castellanos and the Structures of Power." Contemporary

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Terry. Potomac, MD: Scripta Humanistica, 1990.

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