The Window Jaime Torres Bodet Jaime Torres Bodet (1902-1974) Mexico Jaime Torres Bodet was one of twentieth-century Mexico's most respected poets and statesmen. Born in Mexico City, Torres Bodet was in charge of Mexico's public libraries during the early 1920’s. Later he served as a diplomat, as Mexico's minister of public education and foreign minister, and as director-general of UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization). Throughout his illustrious career as a public servant, he also wrote over forty books, including novels, memoirs, essays, and poetry collections. The Window Jaime Torres Bodet Translated from the Spanish by George Kearns You closed the window. And it was the world, the world that wanted to enter, all at once, the world that gave that great shout, that great, deep, rough cry you did not want to hear-and now will never call to you again as it called today, asking your mercy! The whole of life was in that cry: the wind, the sea, the land with its poles and its tropics, the unreachable skies, the ripened grain in the resounding wheat field, the thick heat above the wine presses, dawn on the mountains, shadowy woods, parched lips stuck together longing for cool water condensed in pools, and all pleasures, all sufferings, all loves, all hates, were in this day, anxiously asking your mercy… But you were afraid of life. And you remained alone, behind the closed and silent window, not understanding that the world calls to a man only once that way, and with that kind of cry, with that great, rough, hoarse cry! Study Questions Recalling (The Lines) 1.      According to lines 1-7, what wanted to enter the window? What will never happen again? 2.      According to line 8, what was in the world's cry? What was the cry asking? 3.      List four details used to describe the positive and negative elements in life. 4.      What was the person behind the window like? What did he or she not understand? Interpreting (Between the Lines) 5.      What attitude toward the world does the speaker convey? 6.      What might the word "mercy" mean? Why would the world be asking for "mercy"? 7.      What kind of behavior does the poem criticize? 8.      What central message does this poem have for readers? Extending (Beyond the Lines) 9.      Do you agree that the world calls to a person only once, that if a person closes "the window" it will never call again? Explain your opinion. 10.     Has Latin America missed opportunities to become successful?  Will they get chances again?