Note: This poem was originally written in Yucatecan Maya.
Child Little brother Jaguar race of the indomitable mystical spirit your strength is of the earth the sun the water the air and the fire emerging from your breast your eyes and your hands The power of your soul Comes from the stars Where the legend dwells From your first dreams sleep sleep sleep with the flight of the herons with the silence of the jungle with the lullaby that the rivers give lifting your dreams on the clouds and from the very summits look at your brothers and consider them Child Little brother Jaguar it is time that you awaken the drums and tuncules1 call come with the hummingbird go through the towns and you will find in every brother a look of sadness an ancestral defeat submerged in sleeplessness Do not look down now awaken... awaken... unite with wind lift yourself with the eagles speak with other jaguars take the ax the machete liberate your brothers with them ask for your Justice my Justice our Justice Author's Note: Respect the integrity of these paragraphs with your blood Footnote: 1. Small drums Originally published in México Indígena, México, noviembre 1990, numero 14. p.43