Philoctetes (excerpt)
My venerable friend, I was certain you would understand.
We the younger generation were called upon
at the last moment, as it was said, to reap the glory gained
by your struggles, your wounds, your deaths, yes,
we understand and we recognize, and we also have
our own wounds on different parts of the body, wounds
unseen not balanced by pride nor by the venerable blood
visibly shed, in visible battles, in visible competitions.
But we could live without such glory — did we ever
ask for it? While we spent our time fulfilling the obligations
and debt of others we had no time for ourselves, no time
to enjoy the revered hand, to open the window shutter
on the other side at dawn, nor we saw that hand hanging
the canary cage from the nail on the wall with
the simplicity of an uncertain yet necessary gesture.
Libros Libertad 