Fr. Pavel Adelgeim: verses

 

Fr Pavel Adelgeim, photo

 

1970

[labour camp]

 

Behind the fences,

Behind the locks,

Behind angry dogs flocks

Buried,

Lepers,

To the bones, to the soul naked,

We are dragging

Days and nights

Like chains. There is no strength,

No gleam in the sky

Neither hello nor good by.

No death. No life.

 

 

2008

 

I thank You Lord

For Your sacrificial love

For the marks of whips on Your skin

For Your blood poured out on the cross.

Those days, without regrets,

With crooked mocking smiles

The priests were gloating over:

"If you are God then

Come down from the cross!"

Without regrets about the earthly gifts

And believing Your promise

The holy martyrs and poets

Have rejected the fear of death

And were burnt at the stake

So that Your name

Would glow with undying light

Forever and ever.

Fallen into embrace

Of the double-faced empire

Bathing in golden light

(Like in an undeserved glory)

Reflected by their priestly robes,

Again believing nothing

But knowing what they are doing

Your priests are now executing

Those who love You, in Your name.

One cannot recognize the face of God

Avoiding the cross and the prison,

So should we really be amazed

That they don't want to recognize you?

They need the lentil soup

Immeasurably more than Your grace.

Give them, Lord, to gorge it to the end.

 

 

2009

 

It seems to me that there is no point

To stand by truth when one is judged.

The mesage is the same:

"Live as the state dictates,

If not - then law will not protect."

There is no light of truth in place of judgment

The lamp is dim; the aims and reasons all mixed up

The lighthouse of hope is now switching off

And fills the consciousness with opaque darkness.

In fruitless search for the path

You'll stumble, break your legs

And you will realize with great surprise

That no one needs you.

But don't be sad, calm down your woe:

You are not alone -

God needs you.

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