Guiraldes’ slim volume Poemas misticos almost seems as though it should never have been published. This is not a value judgment against the quality of the work, but rather because reading it I felt as though I were eavesdropping on someone else’s intimate prayers. These seven poems were written in 1926 while the author, best known for his gaucho novel Don segundo sombra was dying from Hodgkins disease. The first poem gives the date as December 24th, 1926. Guiraldes would finally succumb to the disease less than a year later, in October of 1927.
The poems reflect, in a very personal way, a very Catholic concept of suffering. In the writings of saints such as Therese of Lisieux and Catherine of Siena, among many many others, sickness, hardship and pain are considered ways in which the soul becomes more intimately linked with Jesus Christ and his suffering on the cross. It is for this reason that Catherine of Siena, for example, in one of her mystic visions asked that Jesus allow her to experience his pain directly and experienced what is often called a “mystic death”. This is why martyrdom is considered a sublime blessing and not a curse. As the believer offers up his suffering to Jesus he or she enters into a much deeper and more intimate relationship with him, just as taking on and sharing a loved one’s sorrow and pain deepens the intimacy of the relationship. Thus suffering, in a Catholic sense, is not something to be avoided, but rather an opportunity to strengthen one’s relationship with Christ.
In Guiraldes’ seven poems, this is the experience the poet is describing. As the disease ravishes his body he turns towards Jesus and uses this pain as a means with connecting to him through contemplation. The seven poems of this volume are divided into three main sections: “24 de diciembre 1926″ a Christmas Eve meditation considering the meaning and impact of Jesus’ life and martyrdom. ”Fe” a contemplation of the poet’s own suffering, and finally “Infinito” a celebration of the poet’s newfound union with Christ. In the first section, Guiraldes describes Jesus’ birth as a unique paradox, in which God who was never born, had to be born by humanity:
Hoy, hace mil novecientos veintiséis años que naciste. Es decir, hoy, la humanidad nació a ti.
¡Que habías de nacer en fecha alguna, tú que eras nacido desde siempre!
Habías venido a un cuerpo sufridor como el nuestro para estar más presente en sangre y en dolor.
(from “24 de diciembre 1926″ )
This last line, “You had come to a suffering body like ours to be more present in blood and pain” introduces the poem’s main theme of suffering and intimacy by explaining that part of God’s purpose in becoming human was to become more real and more relatable to humanity. This is the Christian chiasmus: God enters into humanness in order for humanity to enter into Godliness, both through the vehicle of suffering and self denial.
At the end of the first section the poet begins to turn towards his own suffering:
Mi cuerpo sabe el dolor de la herida y el dolor del placer.
Mi corazón conoce sus propios engaños y la impotencia de los otros.
Mi inteligencia ha caído tantas veces que prefiere quedar de rodillas.
Estoy desnudo como una médula dolorida de encontrarse en contacto descubierto con la vida.
¡Que mis brazos levantados sean la plegaria fuerte que eleva al que pide! ¡Que sobre mi soledad caiga una
astilla de iluminación como sobre el campo un rayo de aurora noble!
The poet examines his own suffering which involves a painful loss of self. The emptying out of the ego or self is one of the philosophies of the mystic, who seeks to mortify all personal pride and embrace a Christlike humility. In this section the poet describes himself as spiritually stripped down of all his earthly sources of strength: his faith in human love, his pleasures, his intelligence. He is left naked and supplicating, offering up his sorrow as a type of prayer for not only himself, but for all those who asked for it. This theme of self donation is carried into the second section:
Me he perdido a mí mismo.
A veces tomo entre mis manos los recuerdos con cariño y busco largamente mi infancia, mi fe y mi fuerza.
Las veo allá, detrás de una infranqueable transparencia de años, señalando con desprecio mi actual desvío y admiro su firmeza de brújula.
Me he perdido a mí mismo cuando más hondo me buscaba,
como si a fuerza de vivir hubiese muerto.
In this section the stripping down process continues as the poet reaches out for comfort from his own sense of self and that which is contained within it: his memories, his faith, his strength. He can no longer count on them in his weakness. In fact they show him nothing but contempt. It’s interesting that Guiraldes places “faith” on the list of lost implements. In mystic writings there are moments when the mystic experiences a sense of God as being “missing” or “vanished”, the comfort which his religious faith provided is completely emptied out. This experience is often referred to as the “Dark night of the soul” when there is no consolation, not even in prayer. The dark night experience is often described as a moment in which the soul is stripped of the trappings of faith as a necessary step towards union with the divine. This occurs because what is stripped away is the mechanical aspects of faith which often do little more than nourish the false ego. (Pride is like spores or an infection: it gets into anything even religion…especially religion).
As the poet becomes progressively emptied of self, he finds himself drawn more closely to God:
Tiendo adelante mis brazos y todo es adelante
¿Cómo saber?
Espero.
Una voz más grande me dirá: ¡Ven! Y desde entonces caminaré con la vista de mi frente abierta, de rodillas, en un campo de heridas,
llevando en la garganta el trago de la victoria.
Thus the poet moves away from his own ego and his own individual suffering and becomes part of Jesus’ suffering, experiencing in his own skin the same pain, grief and martyrdom that Christ does in order to redeem the souls of all humanity. In the final section “infinito” the transfer of suffering is completed and the poet relishes in having lost himself and having become filled with the spirit of God.
Guiraldes is often not considered a major poet, or even a major literary figure by any means. This volume is written in plain language, with very little aesthetic embellishment or renovation. Nevertheless, it captures in very direct and terms the mystical experience of suffering.
