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Anti-war essays, poems, short stories and literary excerpts
Miguel de Salabert: I first learned about men from their bombs
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Miguel de Salabert
From Interior Exile (1961)
Translated by Renaud Bruce and Herma Briffault
We rushed forward. But again we could hear the droning of the bombers. This time they were flying lower. We threw ourselves face down, and Antonio covered me with his body. A series of violent explosions rocked the ground. A rain of debris fell with a terrifying noise. The air itself trembled…
The explosions continued. I heard Antonio cursing. He said something about the fascists, I don’t know what. A bomb fragment had struck him on one shoulder. I felt what seemed like a river of fire run along my right leg. I bent my knee and a terrible pain shot through my whole body…
When I woke up Antonio was gone. I was lying in a very high bed, and my leg was bandaged. I couldn’t move it.
It was an enormous room. There weren’t enough beds and many of the wounded were lying on mattresses spread out on the floor.
My neighbor in the next bed to the right began shouting.
“What have you done to my legs, you dogs? What have you done with my legs?”
He was beating his fists against his chest and letting out terrible screams.
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