What History Repeats

 

The river is still, deep black water,

Running through caverns of  Mayan hell,

Stories made here too horrible and ancient to tell.

Surrounded by a forest tunnel

She dreams of going beyond her mountain world,

She dreams of things to come that are beautiful, beyond the human race

Beyond the sun’s godlike face

Beyond the moon whose shadows show

the magic of the mountains and jungles below.

the jaguar god once gave his laws

with lethal silver claws,

unsheathed blades for teeth

metallic shell with skin beneath

People from somewhere, a foreign word she learned to hate

she knows it’s her condemned people’s fate

to realize nothing.

 

In her city

The men have fought each other and died

The lowlands in over harvested forest have dried,

The children once hungry now disappeared,

The voices of old women silenced by what they feared

Until only she is left, fertile and full of broken anticipation,

Her lover, her brothers and sisters, her father and mother, all Mayan.

Gone, one by one, until bereft like a shell, she stands silhouetted one last time

In what should have been her most splendid prime.

 

Raising her arms to Hunab Ku, the god of gods,

Raising her arms to greet the sun,  

From the tallest building on the tallest mountain,

Bursting forth, like a black jaguar wishing for wings,

She sings to Quatzelcoatl, god of wind, as she falls,

disappearing into the jungle far below,

joining legends of shadowy beings and naked bone

from a civilization once great, now gone.

 

Reviews

[TL Boehm]

oh wow. my prevailing complaint about the Cafe for the past couple of years has been that works like this get so few reviews. This is a stellar piece. Unique, technically brilliant and a story true to the culture...Sigh. I've been absent for awhile - I've missed your writing.

[Helen Woodward]

A beautiful testament to the Mayan people Mimi, you followed the path of the girl to womanhood and her path was grim...as it was for all of them. You have done your homework (as always) and added herbs and spices with your unique phrasing and stunning imagery...
Just gorgeous and a pleasure to read!

Cheers~

Helen~

[Emily B]

the rhythms underneath the words are stunning, I was transported so far beyond myself. I felt like I knew those mountains though. I remember falling once. Maybe that was it. Wondrous work.

[Fabian G. Franklin]

How very ancient indian feeling....The Aztecs or the Anasazzi come to mind..historical feeling as well, a write well worth reading twice, I enjoyed this.

[Gandré]

the corpulence of the transported message is what I like about this piece, when I go into detail, I see the integrated whole, you make us see and you do it with ease, raffinesse to influence without influencing, that's the perfect message, we need to go few steps back to save our souls and to share what we have with others on this earth, wonderful piece Mimi, and thank you for entering my contest. Hope all is well, kind regards, L.