"Mirror of patience" () is an epic poem written in 1608 by
Silvestre de Balboa Silvestre is a Spanish and Portuguese given name or surname, or a French surname. Notable people with the name include:
Surname
*Cindy Silvestre (born 1993), French kickboxer
*Franck Silvestre (born 1967), retired French footballer
*Isac Silvestr ...
.
It is considered the first literature piece written in
Cuba
Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...
. It was occult until the year 1838 when was published in ''El Plantel'', a nineteenth-century magazine. Before, the writer José Antonio Echevarría found it between the shelves of the library of the "Society of Friends of the Country".
The poem is about a true story that occurred in the port of
Manzanillo in 1604, when the bishop of the
Island of Cuba
Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean Sea. It comprises an archipelago of islands centred upon the geographic coordinates 21°3N, 80°00W. Cuba is the principal island, surrounded by four main archipelagos: the Colorados Archipelago, Colorado ...
, Don Juan de las Cabezas Altamirano, in a travel to visit the farms in
Yara
Yara may refer to:
People
* Yara (given name)
* Yara (surname), a Japanese surname
* Yara (Angolan footballer), Yara Lukenia F. da Costa Lima ()
* Yara (Brazilian footballer), Yara Silva (born 1964)
* Yara (singer), Lebanese pop singer Carl ...
, was kidnapped by the
French corsair Gilberto Girón, with the intent to make the town pay a huge ransom. Then a group of neighbors from
Bayamo
Bayamo is the capital city of the Granma Province of Cuba and one of the largest cities in the Oriente region.
Overview
The community of Bayamo lies on a plain by the Bayamo River. It is affected by the violent Bayamo wind.
One of the mos ...
prepare to fight against the corsairs. In combat, a black slave named Golomón defeats Gilberto Girón and cuts off his head. The bishop is rescued and the people celebrate.
References
Cuban literature
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