"Meliponicultura": Stories and Knowledge Exchange
stories
The Counsel of Time
Xook K'iin
This text is also available in other languages:
Der Berater der Zeit (German)
El Consejero del Tiempo (Spanish)
U Ajtsolil K'iino'ob (Yucatec Maya)
It’s the moment,
It’s the sound,
The moment when we learn,
It’s the moment of listening,
The moment of admiring.
Counsel,
Xook K’iin,
With the gaze,
With the sound of life,
Which touches our hearts,
With the sound of the earth.
With the song of the mukuy,
With the song of the sakpakal,
Little mukuy, huuuuhuu, huuuhuu
sakpakal, wuuru uhu, wuuuru uhu,
From the first days, we look at the nest of the yuuyaj,
Tsiii, Tsiii, iiii,
Long, short, tsiii, tsiii, tsiii, iii,
The nest that this year will give us,
Long, short,
Green and yellow is their nest,
What will it bring us?
Is it long, is it short?
Little by little, we’ll see if they will give us rain,
Will the beautiful Earth bloom?
Will it give us maize?
To eat, to nourish us,
Days for observing, for listening in,
Simply observing the way time passes,
The days will give us an answer.
Time passes,
Our heart brightens,
This beautiful Earth gives us nourishment,
Care for it, protect it from harm,
The animals show us
How to live on this Earth,
There is rain,
There is no rain.
The song of the birds,
The song of the tsuutsuy,
The song of the xk’ook’,
The song of the mukuy,
The flight of the xkusam,
The flight of the ts’unuum,
Your song tells us something,
Your song makes us pay attention,
Your song makes the Earth bloom
We just have to interpret,
The teachings of our grandparents
Walk beside us,
How do we transmit them to our children?
Ants that turn in circles,
It will rain,
It will not rain,
Father sun,
Your crown is large,
Your crown is small,
Indicating the beginning and the passing of the seasons.
The counting of the days
Gives counsel to our life
The counting of the days helps us care for the Earth,
The song of the birds
Gives counsel to our hearts.
María Elisa Chavarrea Chim
Translated by Joel Scott and Andrea Garcés for Gegensatz Translation Collective.
Omar Said Charruf, Cosmos, 2022
Omar Said Charruf, Cosmos, 2022
