Here we go, first task for the Tinta Viva workshop . Take one of the phrases taken from the Odyssey and use it to create a monologue.
Mientras el hombre vive y contempla la luz del sol, debe esperar, aunque padezca muchos males. Y si, esperar es lo único que nos queda. Esperar, pero no en el sentido de quedarnos quietos en un sitio, aguardando a que algo ocurra. ¡No! Por el contrario. Hablo de creer en la esperanza, de creer que esos rayos de sol que contemplamos iluminarán nuestro camino y nos ayudarán a alcanzar lo que anhelan nuestros corazones. Hablo de una esperanza que se sostiene con las manos, que exige movimiento, trabajo, insistencia.
Y sí, quizá esa esperanza sea el último de los males que escapó del ánfora de Pandora. Pero una vez que ha escapado, una vez que la hemos dejado obrar, es posible mirar atrás y reconocer la vida que nos ha dejado: los caminos andados, las pérdidas, los encuentros, todo aquello que nos ha convertido en quienes somos. Hermanos, hermanas, los invito a vivir, a experimentar, a aprender, a sentir porque la esperanza es lo primero que deseamos y lo último que nos queda. ¡A vivir, que el tiempo es corto!
So long as a man lives and looks upon the light of the sun, he must hope, however many ills he suffers. And yes, hope is all that is left to us. But not the hope that stands still in one place, waiting for something to happen. No. Quite the opposite. I mean believing in hope; believing that those sunrays we look upon will light our road and carry us towards whatever it is our hearts long for. I am talking about hope you hold in your hands, one that demands movement, and labour, and constancy.
Perhaps hope is the last of the evils to escape Pandora’s jar. But once it is out, once we have let it do its work, we can look back and recognise the life it has left us behind: the roads walked, the losses, the people met along the way, all of the things that make ous who we are.
Brothers, sisters, I invite you to live, to try, to learn, to feel, because hope is the first thing we want and the last thing we have. Live, for time is too short.
Commentary:
In the Spanish version I am exploring the double meaning of “esperar“: to wait, and to hope. In English there is no single verb that carries both, so the wordplay I am exploiting in the Spanish version does not survive in English. I have, however, kept the structure in the meaning “not the hope that stands still” making the contrast explicit rather than embedded in one verb. Let’s hope it works!