Otro Día en "Paradiso" - Another Day in “Paradiso”

Paseo Atocha, Ponce PR (Foto Edil Rentas) Las viejas calles de mi pueblo,  tumultuosas, parlanchinas, abarrotadas de transeuntes  despistados por sus compras, llenas de olor a frituras, a café expreso y domplines, adornada de flores en venta, de billeteros y limpiabotas, de palomas en vuelo, de viejos predicadores de ventanas abiertas  y balcones adornados con tapices polvorientos, carros cotorrientos van, guaguas gritonas vienen, anunciando los especiales del sàbado en la mañana, y la gente alborotada entra en cada comercio abierto desmadrando escaparates  como si el fin se acercara, y en las vitrinas adornadas los pobres cuelgan sus ojos soñando lo que no tienen, lo que quisieran comprar y en la esquina el limosnero extiende su mísera mano, el niño triste lo mira  y el adulto lo desprecia pero una mano generosa le aventa una moneda, toda la calle era bullicio, toda la calle era vida, qued...

Many years ago we visited the National Zoo in Washington DC. One of the exibits was a huge gorilla that was in a cage set beside a walkway, with a wall to wall glass partition dividing the cage and the people. Immediately following the glass on the bottom there was a ledge about foot and a half high where the gorilla sat, with his back on the concrete column, and his right side again st the glass. He was sitting with his right leg up and bent towards his chest and his right elbow resting on his knee, while his left leg lay rested on the floor.  I approached the glass and stood right by him, he looked up into my eyes, directly into my eyes, for a several seconds, then looked at another person's eyes, then another, then another. He kept switching, his look from one person to another, as if he was seeking an answer. An answer no one there could provide. I mean, we were separated by only a few inches of glass, but I could almost read his thoughts, his never ending question. Why am ...