a child, it is no good tearing the babe from the womb.
“Seek life, and life will bring the change.
“Seek life itself, even pause at dawn and at sunset, and life will come back into us and prompt us through the transitions.
“Lay forcible hands on nothing, only be ready to resist, if forcible hands should be laid on you. For the new shoots of life are tender, and better ten deaths than that they should be torn or trampled down by the bullies of the world. When it comes to fighting for the tender shoots of life, fight as the jaguar fights for her young, as the she-bear for her cubs.
“That which is life is vulnerable, only metal is invulnerable. Fight for the vulnerable unfolding of life. But for that, fight never to yield.”
Cipriano, too, was always speaking to his soldiers, always with the same cry:
“We are men! We are fighters!
“But what can we do?
“Shall we march to simple death?
“No! No! We must march to life.
“The gringos are here. We have let them come. We must let them stay, for we cannot drive them out. With guns and swords and bayonets we can never drive them out, for they have a thousand where we have one. And if they come in peace, let them stay in peace.
“But we have not lost Mexico yet. We have not lost each other.
“We are the blood of America. We are the blood of Montezuma.
“What is my hand for?