MARIA SABINA
Text: Camilo Jose Cela
English translation: Luz Castaņos and Theodore S. Beardsley, Jr.
The Town Crier
In the high Sierra of Oaxaca
The mushrooms of Fray Bernardino grow
The Indians all call it nanacatlh
It makes them drunk and it makes them sing of
The heretics, the sages, the witches
The golden bronze people of the teyhninti
The red blood of the sweet sacrifice
The red blood of the bird of the forest
The red blood of the Ometepec child
Sick with love and with vanity
The red blood of the now dead warriors
In the arms of the dirty young maidens
But at the end of four long centuries
Ile angel Maria Sabina was born
She eats the bitter teunanacatlh
And drinks rum and anis and pure clear water
They condemned her to death on the gallows
She cannot be saved by the wailing
Of Valentina Pavlovna Wasson
Nor by the stark ghost of Antonin Artaud
Begging mercy from the devil
Pardon from all the ruinous angels
Many flames lit to Popocatepetl
Or the total end of the world from the green gods
Have pity on Maria Sabina
And on the hearts of her hangmen
Nameless, so that one can call them
Deadly scorpions, naked, and famished
Bald from cradle-cap and ringworm
Wild from illicit astronomy
Amen and high above the hundred heads
Of the lamb let brilliant lightning bolts flash
Chorus
The whole town wants to hang Maria Sabina The whole town wants to see how the hangman from the city kills Maria Sabina The whole town wants to pull the dangling feet of the hanged Maria Sabina The whole town wants to kiss the skirt of Maria Sabina
Maria Sabina
I am a woman who cries
I am a woman who spits
I am a woman who no longer gives milk
I am a woman who speaks
I am a woman who screams
I am a woman who gives life
I am a woman who is now barren
I am a woman who floats over the waters
I am a woman who flies through the air
I am a woman of the air
I am a woman who drinks smoke
I am a woman of light
I am a woman who is pure
I am a woman of rags
I am a woman who eats flowers
I am a woman capable of suffering hunger
I am a woman who is suffering hunger
I am a woman who often suffers hunger
I am a woman without a tongue
I am a woman of sticks
I am a woman with eyes that neither see nor shine
I am a woman who sees in the shadows
I am a woman who caresses the drop of dew on the grass
I am a woman made of dust and watered wine
I am a woman who daydreams while a man rapes her
I am a woman who always gets raped again
I am a woman who does not have the strength to lift a pin
I am a woman condemned to death
I am a woman of simple inclinations
I am a woman who grows snakes and sparrows on her bosom
I am a woman who grows salamanders and ferns in her armpits
I am a woman who grows moss on her chest and belly
I am a woman whom no one ever kissed with enthusiasm
I am a woman who hides pistols and rifles in the wrinkles of her neck
I am a woman who has no teeth
I am a woman with two rows of teeth
I am a woman with three rows of teeth
I am a woman who has teeth growing in her
palate
I am a woman who eats dirt
I am a woman who cures her wounds with dirt I am a woman who does not jump with joy over the rooftops
I am a woman without nipples
I am a woman with six teats like bitches
I am a woman who was buried alive
I am a woman who enjoyed being buried alive
I am a woman who drinks her father's semen in the flower of the mandrake
I am a woman who smokes aromatic herbs in a pipe made of vertebrae from a blood-drained martyr
I am a woman who is almost blind
I am a woman who is almost deaf
I am a woman who is almost dumb and paralyzed I am a woman who hovers around urinals and rubble
I am a woman whose belly sings
I am a woman who ignores sin
I am a woman who undresses and dresses with freedom
I am a woman who laughs for no reason at all
I am a woman who is faithful
I am a woman who is respectful
I am a woman who is indecent
I am a woman who grows frogs and water snakes in the sink
I am a woman wrapped in a multicolored shroud
I am a woman with brittle nails I am a woman who is losing her nails
I am a woman who cannot remember when she lost her nails
I am a woman who doesn't know solfege
I am a woman who feeds fleas out of charity
I am a woman with fetid breath
I am a woman who is fat and unhealthy
I am a woman whose vagina and anus were sewn UP am a woman whom no one looks in the eye am a woman who seeks shelter where she can, for example under bridges or in the beds of lepers
I am a woman who loves fire am a woman who carries fire from one place to another
I am a woman incapable of spitting lire
Chorus
All the crippled and sick old bitches want now to hang our Maria Sabina
All the crippled and sick old bitches want now to see the expression of the hangman, while he embraces her through the air, our Maria Sabina
All the crippled and sick old bitches won't be able to hang from the feet of Maria Sabina
All the crippled and sick old bitches want now to smell the last droplet of sweat of Maria Sabina
Maria Sabina
Listen moon
Listen woman, Southern Cross
listen woman, star of sailors
Listen candle of the dead
Listen newborn rabbit
listen sun and clouds
listen woman wounded unto death
Listen woman without a soul
listen woman without a body
Listen woman without love
listen woman
listen snail in the fountain
Listen summer fly
listen morning star
Listen Andromache
listen rain water
listen bright day
Listen dog's black mouth
Listen lustful and comforted widow
listen lustful and beautiful widow
listen Mary Stuart
Listen pauper of the whippings
Listen Joan of Arc
listen St. Andrew on the Cross
listen pauper of the whippings
Listen Messalina
listen pauper of the whippings
Listen flower of marijuana
listen eye that has been trampled by beasts
Listen sacristan who stas the oil
Listen discolored soul in purgatory
Listen lonely owl
Listen Nicanor
I declare that I am a corpse that sings
I declare that I know how to raise columns with tears and saliva
I declare that I can prepare elixirs of life and potions of death
I declare that if I ask for mercy it is only to mock your heart
I declare that I do not believe in your justice or your injustice
I declare that I am guilty under the law that rules you
I declare that I despise your law
I declare that I spit on your law
I declare that I feel compassion for you and for your law
Chorus
AY! AY! AY! AY! AY!
Prepare the sentence for her, you Sheriff
Prepare the rope for her, you Hangman
Prepare the stones for her, you child
Don't prepare the tomb for her, you there gravedigger, we demand that Maria Sabina be devoured by the wild birds and dried up by the wind
AY! AY! AY! AY! AY!
Maria Sabina
Listen warehouse clock
Listen sewer rat
Listen young girl who won't look me in the eye
today
listen pimp
listen spoiled harlot who allows her blood to be sucked by the pimp
listen virgin who looks at yourself in the mirrow with fury
listen you hangman with soft manners
listen crap-shooter
listen beer drinker
listen profaner of corpses, friend of corpses, kin of corpses
Listen flute player who sins with maiden goats
Listen pin-pierced butterfly listen miserly hoarder of empty bottles
listen Martin the fisherman who flies over the enraged sea
listen aurora borealis
listen rainbow of just five colors
I laugh at your impatience
I laugh because I know I will fool you with my pirouette
I laugh because you do not know how to take advantage of occasions
Chorus
We demand that the hangman now place the
rope on Maria Sabina
We demand that her flesh be distributed so that we may boil it in our pots and pans.
We demand that the watchmen drive away the
crows and all the worms
We demand a small bit of her warm blood to
comfort us.
Maria Sabina
The Sacred Heart of Christ
The heart of the Mother of Christ
The heavens know me
God knows me
I am a cleansed woman
The bird cleanses me
The book cleanses me
The water cleanses me
The air cleanses me
The flower cleanses me
The heavens know me
God knows me
The Sacred Heart of Christ
The heart of the Mother of Christ
Chorus
AY! AT. AY! AY! AY!
Read us the sentence now, you Sheriff
Get ready to swing your rope through the air
now, you Hangman
Wash out your mouth well now with rose water
and cloves, you child
Don't prepare the tomb for her, you there
gravedigger, and drive away all the birds here
and all of the worms because the flesh of
Maria Sabina belongs to all men.
AY! AY! AY! AY! AY!
Maria Sabina
You know that I love fire
You know I carry fire from one place to another
You know I spit fire if I wish to do so
You know that I am a woman who washes her face with the blood of young men
You know that I am a woman who washes her face with the blood of the dead
Chorus
Yes, yes we do know
Maria Sabina
You know that I am a woman who takes sitz baths in the blood of the lion
Chorus
Yes, yes, we do know
Maria Sabina
You know that I am a woman who turns herself into smoke
You know that I am a woman whose heart is made of air
You know that I am a woman who flies like a bird
You know that I am a woman who floats like a cork
You know that I am a woman who can still give birth
You know that I am a woman whom you are going to kill
You know that I am a woman no more licentious than other women
You know that I am a woman who is whole and does not cry
You know that I am a woman who spits in your faces
You know that I am a woman who pees with noisy enthusiasm
You know that I am a woman who feeds the old men with her milk
You know that I am a woman who sings and rings the bell
You know that I am a woman who sings and plays the violin
You know that I am a woman who vomits with disgust over your heads
Chorus
Set off firecrackers so tha tthe horrid noise will protect our ears from the evil words of Maria Sabina
Beat all your smallest children so that their loud crying will protect our ears from the evil words of Maria Sabina
Call upon the wind and storm so that wails will protect our ears from the evil words ofMaria Sabina
Maria Sabina
The heart of Our Lord Jesus Christ
The heart of his Most Blessed Mother
'Me saints in heaven and the angels know me
God knows me
I am a woman without blood
The bird steals my blood
The open book steals my blood
The water steals my blood
The air steals my blood
The flower steals my blood
The saints in heaven and the angels know me
God knows me
The heart of the Most Blessed Mother of Christ
The heart of Our Lord Jesus Christ
Chorus
AY! AY! AY! AY! AY!
Listen with care to the reading of the harsh sentence by the Sheriff there
Miss not one small detail of the fine and careful work of the Hangman
Raise up all your children, raise them high above your heads so that they remember this very moment for all of the rest of their lives
Let's get him drunk. Get the gravedigger drunk and break up his hoe into a thousand pieces.
Maria Sabina
The Sacred Heart of Christ
The heart of the Mother of Christ
The heavens know me
God knows me
I am a cleansed woman
The bird cleanses me
The book cleanses me
The water cleanses me
The air cleanses me
The flower cleanses me
The heavens know me
God knows me
The Sacred Heart of Christ
The heart of the Mother of Christ
Chorus
Take off the Hangman's blindfold Offer the Hangman a glass of good Tequila You must hold silence, respectful silence now when the Hangman closes both his eyes Long five the Hangman
Constable
There you have her Hangman
Kill her now
No one will ask you to account for your deed
Executioner
Forgive me, Maria Sabina, It will take one moment. One, two, three .
Chorus
Maria Sabina... Maria Sabina... Maria Sabina...