The Testament of Milagros

"There are times in these days before death comes with my name in whispers, calling me towards darkness, lulling me towards rest, when I know that I want more from the world. Not much, but more. It is simple. If water can be changed into wine and the dead can be brought back, then I want time pushed back. I want to live again before my son's death happened,  or before he left home, when he was a baby and his father was alive and there was easy in the world.  I want one of those golden Aabbath days, days without wind when there were prayers on our lips, when I joined the women and intoned the words, the supplication to God to give justice to the weak and the orphan, maintain the right of the lowly and the destitute, rescue the needy, deliver them from the hands of the wicked. When I said these words to God, it mattered that my husband and son were close by and that soon, when I had walked home alone and sat in teh shadows with my hands joined, I would hear their footsteps returning and I would await my son's shy smile as the door was opened for him by his father and then we would sit in silence waiting for the sun to disappear when we could talk again and eat together and prepare with ease for the peaceful night after the day when we had renewed ourselves, when our love for each other, for God and the world, had deepened and spread. 

(...) 

And I am whispering the words, knowing that words matter, and smiling as I say them to the shadows of the gods of this place who linger in the air to watch me and hear me. 

Σημειώσεις: Το απόσπασμα είναι από το "The Testament of Mary" του Colm Tóibín.  Στα ελληνικά, το "Η Διαθήκη της Μαρίας" κυκλοφορεί σε μετάφραση της Αθηνάς Δημητριάδου (Ίκαρος, 2014).  //  Η φωτογραφία είναι της Μeridith Κohut από τον λογαριασμό των NYT στο Instagram και δείχνει την 20χρονη ετοιμόγεννη Milagros Vásquez που πηγαίνει από νοσοκομείο σε νοσοκομείο παρακαλώντας να την δεχτούν για τον τοκετό. Σε κάποιο από αυτά, έφυγε μόνη της γιατί δεν υπήρχε η θερμοκοιτίδα που θα χρειαζόταν το πρόωρο μωρό της. Στο άρθρο αυτό, μπορείτε να διαβάσετε για την κατάρρευση του συστήματος δημόσιας υγείας στη Βενεζουέλα και την οικτρή κατάσταση της χώρας.