Monday, September 17, 2007

The Puppet: A farewell to Life from Gabriel Garcia Marquez

The Puppet: A farewell to Life from Gabriel Garcia Marquez

This poem was sent to all of his friends in the last days of his life, when he knew he would not ever see many of them again. It shows the thoughts of a person who knows what is truly important in life, it is his secret to life......


The Puppet

If for a moment God would forget that I am a rag doll and give me a scrap of life, possibly I would not say everything that I think, but I would definitely think everything that I say.

I would value things not for how much they are worth but rather for what they mean.

I would sleep little, dream more. I know that for each minute that we close our eyes we lose sixty seconds of light.

I would walk when the others loiter; I would awaken when the others sleep.

I would listen when the others speak, and how I would enjoy a good chocolate ice cream.

If God would bestow on me a scrap of life, I would dress simply, I would throw myself flat under the sun, exposing not only my body but also my soul.

My God, if I had a heart, I would write my hatred on ice and wait for the sun to come out. With a dream of Van Gogh I would paint on the stars a poem by Benedetti, and a song by Serrat would be my serenade to the moon.

With my tears I would water the roses, to feel the pain of their thorns and the incarnated kiss of their petals...My God, if I only had a scrap of life...

I wouldn't let a single day go by without saying to people I love, that I love them.

I would convince each woman or man that they are my favourites and I would live in love with love.

I would prove to the men how mistaken they are in thinking that they no longer fall in love when they grow old--not knowing that they grow old when they stop falling in love. To a child I would give wings, but I would let him learn how to fly by himself. To the old I would teach that death comes not with old age but with forgetting. I have learned so much from you men....

I have learned that everybody wants to live at the top of the mountain without realizing that true happiness lies in the way we climb the slope.

I have learned that when a newborn first squeezes his father's finger in his tiny fist, he has caught him forever.

I have learned that a man only has the right to look down on another man when it is to help him to stand up. I have learned so many things from you, but in the end most of it will be no use because when they put me inside that suitcase, unfortunately I will be dying.

4 comments:

michael said...

Nice posting, but a sad commentary on the internet - we are quick to distribute nice material, but often confused and misled about sources! I have no fault with you, but your header uses the word "truth"; this poem attributed to Marquez is described on a hoax web site - http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/marquez.html; alas I did not see any of these until 2009!

deja vu said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
deja vu said...

I am sorry, but could you please help me understand why "confused and misled about sources", regarding this post. Like is there anything wrong about the hoax web site because I'm going to use it as a source too?
Thanks

Waheb FERACHE said...

Nice memorable words; best of what I have read so far! I will re-read 'The Puppet' once and again; not everyone has the talent; the will and determination to utter such words adorned with freshest and noblest feelings; we really sense each single word coming out of a vivid heart and a noble person. Thank you so much Mr. Gabriel.
Waheb FERACHE; Algeria; May,2013.