MARIA SABINA

MARIA SABINA

Text: Camilo Jose Cela

English translation: Luz Castaņos and Theodore S. Beardsley, Jr.

PART I

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

 

PART II

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

 

PART III


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...