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Updated: February 8, 2008
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La
Virgen de Guadalupe
(El
Huerfano y su Madre)
La Virgen de Guadalupe (El Huerfano y
su Madre) written by Embudo Valley author, Sylvia
Ernestina Vergara is a softbound book of epic poetry. Through her
verses Vergara unfolds her poetic version of the story of the Virgen
de Guadalupe combining English, Spanish and Nahuatl words and
phrases.
Subtitled "El Huerfano y su Madre," The Orphan and His Mother,
Vergara impresses the idea that we are all displaced and separated
while we are on earth -- we are all orphaned from that which gives
us life, ideas, feelings, thoughts and emotions. Also, she wishes
to remember the millions of children that are physically orphaned
and are without parents, and parents who have lost a sense of
communication and connection with their children. She sees the
feminine energy as that which nurtures and draws to itself a
compassionate and miraculous nature.
Inspiration
for the poem is derived from Vergara's visit to Mexico where the
image of the Virgen de Guadalupe is in Tepeyac. There she
saw many devotees with eyes transfixed walking on their knees in a
spiritual journey through the basilica toward the image. Some
years later (another inspiration); an unrelated event of seeing a
mother bear and her cubs in the Bosque near the river by her farm.
There was a moment when she and the mother bear looked into each
other's eyes and somehow something was communicated. Other
inspirations come from other writings such as the Nican Mopua,
written approximately 1550 by Don Antonio Valeriano in Nahuatl.
The
second part of the book is a prayer called "The Fragments of
My Soul" which is written in English by Sylvia with
accompanying Spanish translation written by her mother, Maria Casías
Vergara.
Sylvia
Ernestina Vergara is a New Mexican self-publisher who has written
numerous books of poetry, dramas, short stories, non-fiction
narrative and essays. She recently was featured by the Embudo
Valley Library and presented three new books -- Bear Foot
Song, The Vote and Shalt at
a book signing. Her and her father's poetry are buried in a time
capsule in Mexico with other prominent Mexican poets and scholars.
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