0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Dog Days
knees, in view of the patient, while I mumbled, swung the censer, did
the ritual chewing out. Whose heart hardens to the child, hardens to
all. And a chicken, a substitute had to be given up, it was too late to
stave off the ancestors and the lawyers of the world with just copal
and candles. That part was clear as rock crystals, clear as before we
were blinded, when we all could see clearly.
By dusk, pure white feathers caught in the breeze danced toward Ja-
kavitz, the early K’iche’ citadel.^4 Why all the body signs, blood jumps,
in the cheek, up to the eyelid. What did she see, ripe, harvest, yellow of
course, yellow eyes. Q’an bok’och, the name of an underworld Lord,
and the sickness he rules. A confirmation? Cost?
Dog Day
After some tea, she looked better. The family had her healing in fo-
cus, finally, and when I left she was eating a stringy leg with interest.
The light of life, reemerging as dawn, after the sacrifice, after the con-
fession. I had done what I could conjoining two traditions, while fly-
ing on automatic, while calling on Lucas for guidance at every step.
But let’s not make it a habit, I said to myself, in comforting darkness,
on the trail back toward Patojil. This is way too out of bounds, way
over the line. One blue eye and one brown.
Wrap Up
I found out later, through the web, that she had recovered; it was Lord
Yellow Eyes, may I never have to make such a diagnosis again in the
field. She was on to some more life in the shadow of Saqiribal, to the
east “where it dawns,” where all are initiated, even gringos. Me to-
ward an awakening to even more fascination with how help works in
other cultural latitudes, the calling of healing at the next level, how
to have something at least approximating a profession as guide when
messing with the poor. How to be a spiritually inspired ally of reason
and hope, of learning and wisdom, asking always how to help with-
out hurt. After all the hurt I witnessed inflicted by aid groups in Gua-
temala in their attempts to help, my soul wanted to take the lesson to
