i

There is more going on in a man's mind, infinitely more, when he realizes he has to do something.

And could I ever become that-- that vague and overwhelming and responsible thing called man? I haven't really been listening to the things around me. There is on the other hand for children a light to maintain their breath and movement; muddied a feather drying in the slow to come sun.

He is there and there he lives.

ii

Gukumatz sat in the heart of heaven, wondering; whether the viper would be and it was; whether the bird would be and it was; and whether jaguar would be and he was.

And this of course was in the days of Hurakan, Xpiyacoc and Xmucan, who worked the nomadic Zapotec as messengers though of roots these men remained unrevealing,

as living roots often remain;

iii

and which roots writhed for the catarrh-strick Atlacatl, who slew from the skies in several battles the marsupials with a flint-edge spear; and I saw his boots of yellowing snakeskin, crusted in mud coming down the peak though finally botched at El Mozote,

where the Atlacatl scorch-trained-- that is to say northern-trained to rapid deployment and action-- Infantry active mostly around Morazan, drained of 900 men, woman and their children blood back to fire and mud.

And when the Gods saw that the wooden man was often heartless, they instead made man of spilled and coagulated blood.

iv

And void of the beryl beneath, Camazotz, Lord of the House of Bats, could hardly sleep and worried awake between nightmares and the sound of across the sky rains--

as later that night a spider seemed to be crawling the air while invisible he thought or tried to think through the nature of these nightmares

v

(Though this of course was before white maize had been torn out the emerald teeth of the gods;

Mamita Unay, or United Fruit, having only just begun to railway the plantain fields of Goathemala;

and this under the thousand and the whirling of their leathern wings):

vi

In the tropical climates of Cuscatlan and Goathemala the sun at midday appears to draw around itself the clouds in serpentine designs,

and from these come thunder and lightning and the rain,

and here beneath I sat with Bolivar, Lord of the Face of Torches, who said to me:

vii

And we also have a dirty god about whom I could say nothing that isn't true; he lies, cheats and steals; and when we were introduced he was faraway from anything I'd known and I've probably hated him maybe almost as much as I love him.

His skin is black from constant exposure to the sun; he often shows toothless gums and is known also to protect the foolish enough to have wandered to the unknown wastes.

viii

I found myself then in a thick of jungle, my mind clouded in corn alcohol while women lied down with the snails and the dew of heaven and clouds came over everything, living or dead.

And is it possible to wish to die and be hopeful for life at the same time?

I think so. The soldiers had a guitar and its melodies went slow and settled hollow through the jungle entire.

ix

Though of Farabundo and Sandino, who can pretend they didn't exhibit the stupidities of little more than mortals attempting something more?

Augustin and Augusto; Xbalenque and Hunaphu;

and Itzamna, Lord of the Moon, wore parturition on his withered face while half the jungle choked in dew and ash.

x

And for seven days prowled there the jaguar; through night and day; through river and canopy.

My coat came from a quiet fire; for seven days I've prowled the streams and slept on the limestone,

said Gukumatz to himself and continued as the boys lowered their blowguns but couldn't get Gukumatz;

Gukumatz who in his dreams would often for a slender of light half-open his eyes.

xi

There are persons in whom paranoia itself calls attention to them.

The young paint their faces red and in the charm of a time already disappearing learnt a new war; tunnels through the hills; how earth turns to mud, disease and even a disinterested peasantry.

And there are songs against these sorts of things; against the hollows of the world constant in becoming though often they also were hollowed.

And in the crashing highlands of Goathemala the brothers Xbalenque and Hunaphu discovered a gate to the caverns below:

xii

Rattle of bell and bones; an owl's screech; another rattle. Ahpuch the devil-footed caught the two and remember their many tricks. His horn gleams:

They smoked rolled bits of bark to pass the hours. They watched the walls.

They kept themselves busy with the bugs and even feigned once to have learned the clandestine language of the spider.

They smeared mud on their skin and learned to move without sound; as a wall would.

And smoldered the bits of bark stunk of mud and crushed firefly and they stayed years and suffered countless delusions though delirium is without doubt the strength to pretend the day didn't amount to much.

xiii

And the central issue was always the use of land; of its sucre and coffee though land of course came to mean other than only its ground and feed:

Bestial enthusiasm brought gain from exports but kept in the hands of few it stayed water standing when once from above. And the actual scarcity of money among the labor raised a supposed value though its power to buy wasn't as it seemed; land served interest, land didn't grow food.

The youth then weren't eyeing the land; they wanted land to again become land; ground and food; labor incarnadine.

xiv

And Bolivar demanded his Republic not acknowledge authority in the caciques and collectors of tribute;

returning instead resguardos to the Indians who were to rear again animal and maize; believing also food was to eat; reducing personal tribute to a fixed minimal; land to natural use.

And the light of the sun seemed to lay even on the undersides of rivers; lilt even of trumpet and drum in the vagrancy of vendors.

xv

And these having been our dearest brothers also, and considering:

First, that a principal cause of the disasters in which our Republic has become embroiled is the scandalous waste of its funds by certain officials who have had access to them;

Second, that the only way to eradicate this disorder completely is to dictate harsh and extreme measures, I have decided to issue this decree at once;

xvi

Decree:

Article I. Any public official convicted in summary court of having misapplied or stolen more than ten pesos from the public funds shall be subject to capital punishment.

Article II. The judges assigned jurisdiction in such case, according to law, but who fail to adhere to this decree shall be condemned to the same penalty.

Article III. Any citizen can charge public officials with the crime specified in Article I.

Bolivar, Liberator President,
Lima, 12 January 1824.

xvii

And having become in the skyline clear, throat and vein were already vision; tropical storm steaming afterwards from the stones and the sand.

And should light so bright and blinding be tied to the bellies of the sky? Gukumatz shifted in his torch, took to heat the footmen wood and laid again in his reflection; and as always the same:

How did I to be the only one? When I even wasn't even? To have let myself even dream man?

Shades of the brambling Ceiba hanging over his half-asleep face:

xviii

There is, he repeated, a tree here that grows only in open places; its leaves never fall and it bears no flowers but a tawny, most sweet fruit much eaten by the women.

There is on the other hand a leafier tree, veined marvelously, which creates dense canopies of amber light and which bears a saffron berry that is delicate and ripens in ash.

And there is even a tree whose sap causes sores when touched, and whose very shade is known to be noxious if slept under.

And again the light lay over his coat and contemplation as the Ceiba hanged on his half-asleep face: