from Eduardo Galeano's "Faces and Masks"... 1) The Promise of America

Eduardo Galeano (Translation by Terence Clarke)

Faces and Masks

—

The Promise of America

The Blue Tiger will smash the world.

Another land, the one without evil, the one without death, will be born from this annihilation of the land. This is what she will ask. She’ll ask for death, demand birth, this old, offended land. She is very tired and, yes, blinded inside by so much weeping. Dying, the days pierce her, the wasting of time, and the nights inspire pity in the stars. Right away, The First Father will listen to the supplications of the world, a land wishing to be some other, and then He will set free The Blue Tiger sleeping beneath His hammock.

Awaiting this moment, the Guaraní Indigenous will wander the earth condemned. “Do you have something to tell us, Hummingbird?”

They dance, the hummingbirds, without stopping, every time more lightly, flying more, and they intone the sacred songs that celebrate the next birth of the other land.

“Let the lightning strike! Let the lightning strike, Hummingbird!”

Seeking paradise, the Indigenous have arrived at the seacoasts toward the center of America. They’ve wandered through jungles and mountain ranges pursuing the new world, that which will be founded without old age or sickness or anything that interrupts the incessant festivity of life. Songs announce that corn will grow on its own and that arrows can be loosed on their own through the thickest vegetation; neither punishment nor pardon will be necessary, nor will forgiveness, because there will be no prohibition, no guilt.

Translation ©2024. Terence Clarke. All rights reserved.

—

Note: No Plagiarism Software, also known as Artificial Intelligence, was used in the translation of this piece.

Incidentally, for Galeano’s take on the great importance of the hummingbird to the Guarani, click here.

About Eduardo Galeano? click here. For a selection of Galeano’s books, click here. For my recent Substack piece that tells of Galeano, click here.

“Terence Clarke: Recovering The Arts” columns are free of charge. Subscribe to them here. Or, if you wish, you can help us financially with a paid subscription at $5.00 per month or $50.00 per year. That, too, can be done here. It’s your call.

We will not share information about your subscription with anyone.