Carpe Diem
By Agnellius & Daniel Serebryany
The arch of heaven will beam pearl-light
opal will hide behind the ends of
earth
the universe and God in friendly
splendour
will dip into silver the shining of
the mirrors...
...all will be brought together to a
single source...
the last semidarkness... there are no
fallen wings...
the lips will cling to bottomless
Crystal –
there is no reflection, only pure Light ...
Translated from Russian by VD
Translated from Russian by VD
It was on MySpace years ago that they first contacted
me to ask advice about the English translations of their work, which I was
happy to try and help with. Then we were on LiveJournal together for a while, and
eventually facebook.
They were always reticent about themselves. They were
a group of Russian poets and artists, they told me. 'VD' is presumably another
of them. They politely and unequivocally declined to give me any personal
details for this article.
I, as many of you will have gathered by now, am Pagan.
These Russians are passionately Christian, in a mixture of fiercely apocalyptic
and delicately mystical ways. We are well aware of our differences, though we
have never discussed them. None of us is hiding anything in that aspect of our
lives. In their case, their religion is the subject matter of their poetry and
paintings. We simply never referred to it, but talked poetics, and there we
were very aligned.
Some of their work I would not have wished to have
written because the content was too far from my own thinking. Others, though,
were so beautiful that I'd love to have been capable of writing them – such as
this one. It seems to me very 'judgment day', yet to go beyond this
specific theology as the ultimate expression of union with God. And the
painting beautifully reflects it.
Poems and photos used in
‘I Wish I’d Written This’ remain the property of the copyright holders (usually
their authors).
what an enlightening piece. gracias for sharing
ReplyDeleteSuch beautiful description in this poem. Love 'no reflection, only pure light.' The story behind the poem is interesting as well.
ReplyDeleteOh, yes!
ReplyDelete"God in friendly splendour
will dip . . . "
Does this not bring Gerard Manley Hopkins to mind? And then also "Bright Wings!"
That openling line is wonderful, and the entire poem is a beauty. Pairing it with that painting is perfect! I love "there is no reflection - only pure Light." Thanks, Rosemary. It is marvellous, the connections one makes online - I love the unlikely confluence of a pagan and a gaggle of Russian poets. There is a poem there, I think.
ReplyDeleteThere is a deep sense of the numinous in this piece for me--Thank you Rosemary!
ReplyDeleteThank you for this b e a u t i f u l share Rosemary..."there is no reflection, only pure Light ... " love this...
ReplyDeleteit's wonderful, isn't it, poetry knows no barriers to language? Russian, Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, any language you can think of. Translation may not bring out the little nuances and colours of the original, but it is the only way to enjoy the words of a foreign language.
ReplyDeleteRosemary, thanks for sharing this. :)