TE19 Iberian Adventure

San, the Book of Miracles (excerpt) Manuel Astur Translated from Spanish by Joe Williams We are the first words. We are the ones who went and the ones who just arrived. We are the feast and the day’s work and we are boredom. We are the one who burns you and we are the one who puts you out. We are the one who wakes you up in the morning and we are the one who hurls you into bed when night comes. We are, of course, also the one who keeps you awake at night. We are the Enemy and the only comfort. Almost nothing. A fistful of words, the final words. We were about to fall silent. First, we put it off for a while. After a while, we postponed it until later. But the time never came. Finally, we said to ourselves: no, this moment is the moment because it is all time. We have the voice and we have the time. Just as a stone that has sat under the sun all day still radiates heat long after night has fallen, there is a moment in the serene summer sunsets when one would say that objects are glowing, as if they were giving back some of the generous light they received during the day. It was then that Marcelino would put down what 195 We have all of time.