HMH Literature in Translation

Over there, the thick growth of bushes resembles a garden without irrigation or a gardener, these are plants that have had to learn by themselves how best to adapt to nature, to the brute stone that resists their roots, and perhaps for that very reason, because of the stubborn energy expended in these places that men avoid, here where the struggle is between vegetable and mineral, the scents are so penetrating, and when the sun blazes down upon the hillside, all the perfumes open and might lull us to sleep for ever, we might perhaps die with our face to the earth, while the ants, raising their heads like dogs, advance, protected by gas masks, for this is their home as well.

- José Saramongo, Raised From The Ground