The Gravest Moment of Life

Peruvian poet, short story writer, playwright and journalist Cesar Vallejo was born in the Andean town of Santiago de Chuco in 1892 to a large family of mixed Spanish and native blood. His compassionate and moving depictions of the hardships faced by indigenous people in Peru in stories such as “The Two Soras” have had a huge influence on other writers of social conscience in Latin America. All of his poetry and prose is marked by a melancholic sensibility that has become a hallmark of modern Latin American literature. Vallejo died in Paris (as his poem “Black Stone on a White Stone” prophetically predicted) in 1938.

One man said:

“The gravest moment of my life was at the battle of the Marne when I was wounded in the chest.”

Another man said:

“The gravest moment of my life occurred in a tsunami in Yokohama, which I miraculously survived, sheltered under the eaves of a lacquer store.”

And another man said:

“The gravest moment of my life takes place when I sleep in the daytime.”

And another said:

“The gravest moment of my life has been in my greatest solitude.”

And another said:

“The gravest moment of my life was my imprisonment in a Peruvian jail.”

And another said:

“The gravest moment of my life is having caught my father unawares from the side.”

And the last man said:

“The gravest moment of my life has not yet come.”

Translated by Martin Boyd