Road to Huautla de Jiménez
Sierra Mazateca, Oaxaca, México
A Bishop once called on María to teach younger generations of her
own offsprings her wisdom.
She answered this way.
The color of the skin or the eyes can be inherited, including
the manner of crying or of smiling, but the same can’t be
done with wisdom.
Wisdom one beings with one from birth.
My wisdom can’t be taught; that’s why I say that nobody
taught me my Language, because it is the Language
the saint children speak upon entering my body.
Whoever isn’t born to be wise can’t attain the Language
although they do many vigils.
Translated from Mazateco, a dialect of Nahualt, to Spanish by Álvardo Estrada then to English by Henry Munn. Edits to the English translation by Armando Villarreal.
I am wise even from within the womb of my mother. I am the woman of the wind, of the water, of the path, because I am know in heaven, because I am a doctor woman. I am the daughter of god and elected to be wise.
I can arrive where the world is born.
Where the shooting stars are showering, where the flock of Lord eagles are, the sacred eagles, says.
I am a woman who sounds forth with grandiloquence, says.
I am a woman who goes through the water, says.
I am a woman who sounds forth with divinity, says.
I am a little woman of the networks of light, says.
I am a little whirling woman of colors, says.
I am a little Lord eagle woman, says.
I have seen demons and have passed through the dominion of death, says.
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