October 12 1992 at Yaxchilan

Five hundred years after Columbus’ landing on the “New” continent

by Pina Piccolo

Swallowed by vine, the labyrinth,

Deep in the forest

Swallowed by vine,

Surrounded by a river

Surrounded by indios

- On market days, the women

Cross the Usumacinta on frail boats

Trading vibrant plumage colors

For tin coins,

Camouflage cloth,

Deep in the forest,

Swallowed by vine

Chameleons against foliage and rock.

Tonight on the temple steps

The moon will draw

A serpent

Offering the red fruit

Of knowledge

To those who live

With the taste of fear.

Tonight the monkeys will scream

From top branches and scorpions

Will hide under rocks.

Tonight Mauro, the Christian

Lacandon, guardian of the Mayan temple

Will erect a small shrine

To a nameless god

And cry for drunken forgiveness

To a wife he’s betrayed.

Then, machete in hand

Brandishing revenge

He will howl with the forest

A curse,

Lingering echo

Of a festering wound.

A grain of time

In the hourglass of history

Runs the gauntlet

Of memory

Today.

(1992)

[1] Yaxchilan was an ancient Mayan city, now an archaeological site, in the Lacandon forest, in the state of Chiapas (Mexico), near the border with Guatemala. The site is known for its well preserved stelae and lintels, some of which depict rituals connected with the seers’ initiation ceremonies.