Dear Caminoheads,

 

Thank you to all of you who expressed your sympathy, compassion and PATIENCE (lots of it!!!) towards the “status” my life has these days. But, enough of whining (as Phil would have said!) and let me share with you a few other pieces of Thiago de Mello, this Amazonian poet I wrote about a few days ago.  While I was looking for a translation of the prose I posted last week, I found another of his pieces, one that was translated, as it was consider his masterpiece. It is called “The Statutes of Man”.

 

This was written during his exile in Chile, in response to the dictatorship in Brazil. But as I was reading them, and then ruminating them these days since I found the English translation, I kept thinking how much these “statutes” become the implicit rules we live by during the Camino, even when probably before, during or after, we never knew about them… These Thiago de Mello wrote are 15. Here are the first 5…

 

Article 1
It is decreed that now the truth counts,
that now life counts,
and hand in hand,
we will all work for a life that’s true.

Article 2
It is decreed that every day of the week,
including the greyest Tuesdays,
has the right to become Sunday mornings.

Article 3
It is decreed, from this moment on,
there will be sunflowers in every window,
that all sunflowers will have the right
to open in the shade;
and that windows should be open, all day long,
to the green where hope grows.

Article 4
It is decreed that man
will never again
doubt his fellowman.
That man will trust in man
like the palm tree trusts the wind,
like the wind trusts the air,
like the air trusts the open blue sky.
Man will trust his fellowman
like a child trusts another child.

Article 5
It is decreed that men
are free from the yoke of lies.
Never more to use
the breastplate of silence
nor armament of words.
Man will sit at the table
with a clean look
because truth will be served
before dessert.

 

Truth will be served before dessert Loves,

Cris

 

PS: Could you picture in your mind that sort of love,.. “Truth will be served before dessert loves”…? I just did and now I have butterflies in my stomach!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!