XI

A final word here at the last minute:
as soon as the Lord appeared unto me
I took my pencil and paper and typewriter
and started in setting down my sermons
in the best Castilian grammar possible
not without first having gone out into the desert
for a period of 7 consecutive years
I say all this without the least vanity
in spite of the fact that I’m illiterate
I’ve never so much as stepped inside a school
my daddy was poorer than a churchmouse
for want of a better way to say it
distinguished readers: at this very moment
I am seated before an enormous typewriter
at a desk in a private home

now no longer wearing a Christ costume
but dressed like a common ordinary citizen
I beg of you in all humility read me with a little kindness in your hearts
bearing in mind I’m a man thirsting for love
and thank you very much for your kind attention.            
     

en: Sermons and homilies of the Christ of Elqui . English translation by Sandra Reyes ; with a foreword by Miller Williams. Columbia, University of Missouri Press, 1984. 105 p

 

SISIB - Facultad de Filosofía y Humanidades - Universidad de Chile