“There
was a time in the times in which time was not kept track of. In that time the
greatest gods, those who birthed the world, were walking as the first gods walk
per se, that is dancing. In that time there was a great deal of noise,
everywhere voices and screams were heard. A great deal of noise and nothing was
understood. And it is that the noise which existed was not for understanding
anything, but rather was noise for not understanding anything. The first gods
first believed that the noise was music and dance, and quickly took their
partners and began to dance like this,” and Viejo Antonio gets up and tries a
dance step that consists of balancing himself on one foot first and then on the
other. “But it turns out that the noise was not music nor was it dance, but was noise, and it was not possible to dance and be happy. And so the greatest
gods stopped to listen with attention to know what that noise which was heard
meant, but nothing could be understood at all, because, well, the noise was noise.
And
since the noise could not be danced to, well then the first gods, those who
birthed the world, could no longer walk because the first gods walked dancing,
and so they stopped and without walking were very sad because very walkers were
these gods, the greatest, the first ones.
And
some of the gods tried to walk, that is dance with that noise, but it was not
possible and they lost the step and the path and ran into one another and fell
and tripped over trees and rocks and these gods hurt themselves very much,”
Viejo Antonio stops to relight the cigarette which the rain and the noise had
put out. After the fire comes the smoke, after the smoke comes the word:
“Then
the gods searched for a silence to orient themselves again, but they did not
find silence anywhere, to know where the silence had gone and with good reason
because much was the noise that there was. And the greatest gods became
desperate because they did not find the silence to find the path, and so they
came to agreement in an assembly of gods and fought a great deal for the
assembly that they made because much was the racket that there was, and finally
they agreed that each one would search for a silence to find the path and they
became contented from the agreement that they made but it was not very
noticeable because there was a great deal of noise. And then each god began to
search for a silence to find and they began to search to the side and nothing,
and above and nothing, and below and nothing, and since there no longer was
anywhere to search for a silence well they began to search inside of themselves
and they began to look inside, and there they searched for a silence and there
they found it, and there they found themselves and there they found again their
path the greatest gods, those who birthed the world, the first ones.”
Viejo
Antonio became silent, the rain as well. The silence lasted briefly, the
crickets quickly arrived to finish breaking the last bits of that February
night ten years ago.
The
mountain was already awakening when Viejo Antonio said goodbye with a “I
already came.” I remained smoking some little pieces of silence which the
pre-dawn forgot in the mountains of the Mexican southeast.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally published on February 14th, 1997.
Click here to read the full translation of the communiqué in which it was published.
English translation
copyright © 2014 by Henry Gales. All rights reserved.
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