FIRST VOICES
—
Time
Mayan time was born and had a name when heaven did not exist and earth had not yet been born.
Days departed from the east and set out walking.
The first day pulled from its entrails heaven and earth.
The second day made the stairway down which fell the rain.
The works of the third day were the cycles of the sea and earth and the abundance of things.
Upon the wish of the fourth day, earth and sky inclined toward each other and could meet.
The fifth decided that all would work.
From the sixth emerged the first light.
In places where there was nothing, the seventh day placed land. The eighth plunged its hands and feet into the earth.
The ninth day created the underworlds. The tenth day assigned the underworlds to those who had poison in their souls.
Inside the sun, the eleventh day sculpted the stone and the tree.
It was the twelfth day that made the wind. The wind blew and the twelfth day called it spirit, because it had no death within it.
The thirteenth day wetted the earth and with mud he put together a body like ours.
Thus is it recalled in Yucután.
—
Translation ©2023. Terence Clarke. All rights reserved.
About Eduardo Galeano? click here. For Galeano’s great Memoria del fuego, click here.
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