The Law of Nature
On the last little sheet of paper
I will write a poem
About how spring teased winter
For her sins
Covering the earth with snow
She put her in her place
Spring can be cruel too
Like hoary frost
Even the law of nature itself
Threw up its hands
Let them sort it out themselves
Since they have no love for me
If tears of hurt
Are not a passing whim
If the birds do not fly
And the daffodil does not bloom
It means that something in people
Has suddenly changed
It is in our souls that the sun
Did not rise this morning
And hovering over the earth
Is the wind of bitter hearts
And hope is framed
By a crown of stone
Faith, like an earthen vessel
Has been ground to dust
You will never learn the truth now
They have hidden it in a sack
I try to melt the ice floe
My hands are battered and bloody
And on the ice I write in blood
LOVE WILL SAVE US!
Mirage
In a dream born at dawn,
The face of the night just past is hidden.
We are not answerable to heaven
For dreaming of paradise above.
The mirage will dissolve with the mist.
It will trickle down a cheek as sorrow.
And the scent of love, intoxicating,
Drifts along the river of life.
Since morning it has boiled and seethed
And scalded with boiling water.
I long to lose myself completely
And never come back to my senses.
To soar, merging with the stars,
Towards the Milky Way.
And without explaining myself to anyone,
Never find the road back.
But perhaps things are not so wonderful
In the bottomless darkness of space.
And life was given to us for a reason
On this wondrous earth.
In my soul I will say: thank You, God.
I cherish this earthly paradise above all.
And here, simply to be unhappy
Must surely be a great sin.
Repentance
I renounce you forever
My deafness and my blindness
God’s words are dear to my heart
If only my head had wisdom to match
I bow down to the very ground
Before the Lord and before you
I will show my faith through deeds
Even if they lead me to the cross
Though there may be no righteous people on Earth
And I do not count myself as one
Only God has the answer to everything
For that I honour Him
I would rather be a simple sheep
Than wander among goats forever
Without hope of faith in love
A human being cannot be made
To change my reckless nature
Give me Your yoke, Saviour
You are right in seeking my good
And in truth You are my teacher
So open wider, eyes
Let more light pour in
There is no need for pearls or turquoise
Where are You, Lord, my God, where are YOU?
How long I have searched for You
But I wandered down such roads
That I grew weary of myself
A little more and I would have been lost
Rejecting the crown of love
I put on the armour of debauchery
And only sweat, turning to blood, seeped out
From the pleasures of my nature
I cannot account for the roads
By which I found the little path
Where that living stream flows
Where love cannot be broken like a record
Where truth brings ecstasy
As it opens its boundaries
Where a couple of insincere phrases
Make songbirds lose their hearing
Where feelings are not a hunger to devour
And the blind do not lead the blind
You simply want to give everything away
So they will not send you back again
No, I will not tear my shirt
I would rather tear my heart to shreds
Beauty is not seen on the outside
But within, one can become pure
May my soul be fit
For the building of God’s temple
Towards the freedom of Jesus Christ
From Adam’s sorrowful mistake
Someone will say: empty talk
You have always rejected the prophets
As for me, I am an alcoholic and a thief
I am a constellation of every vice
You cannot help believing me
My way of thinking makes me one of you
Every scrap of rubbish will burn in the fire
But the fruit will be gathered for life
Ask, and you will be given
Knock, and the door will open
Only here can a way out be found
Not where they will bury you
Settling the Bills with Conscience
Help me, Lord, do not let me perish
Take a sip from the cup of repentance
At morning prayer I will simply be silent
I will pay my debts to conscience in blood
Drive those little clouds away from me
Let me break in a white horse
I am tired of sorrow; I want no more
I will pay my debts to conscience in blood
By fate’s will, my lot was bread and salt
Why did you choose me, cruel pain?
I will not gallop away into smoke on a spirited horse
I will pay my debts to conscience in blood
Help me, Lord, give me wisdom
So that the granaries may be full
Forgive me, forgive me, my horse, my horse
Now I will follow you into the fire
Thrown into the Sky
I threw a gold coin into the sky
But the sky just laughed
Not even a little drop of rain
Is for sale here
Would you like a gentle breeze
Or a storm for free?
Perhaps a light hurricane
With thunder and fire?
You can buy the whole earth
And build yourself an estate
But for heaven you need the key
Of conscience and honour
Would you like a gentle breeze
Or a storm for free?
Perhaps a light hurricane
With thunder and fire?
I shouted kind words into the sky
And it opened
And in reply, a soft sunshower
Poured across the meadows
A HUNDRED Roads
Where did I find enemies, only to lose my friends?
I have walked a hundred roads with scoundrels.
I am a pal of the forest spirit, welcome at the dragon Gorynych’s,
And I courted Koshchei’s wife.
If anyone dreams of helping a wanderer —
I have no intention of hiding my address.
Come to the tavern — I sing songs there —
You will like it. I am sure.
The learned cat never did me any harm.
He showed off, but talked our kind of talk...
Let me finish my smoke, brother — I am chained up too,
Adorned with a lantern of lawlessness.
If anyone dreams of helping a wanderer —
I have no intention of hiding my address.
Come to the tavern — I sing songs there —
You will like it. I am sure.
Toss me gold coins — I will not sell my little humpbacked horse...
Prison bunks have steeped me in thieves’ slang.
And if I have to while away my fate stripped bare —
Beside me is a mate, a tried and tested accomplice.
If anyone dreams of helping a wanderer —
I have no intention of hiding my address.
Come to the tavern — I sing songs there —
You will like it. I am sure.
The Fool Within Me
The fool within me has not died
And the wise man has not yet come alive
I am neither an evil baron nor a noble knight
Nor am I the Lord of the Rings
I wanted to share with people
My far-from-simple wish
Since I had to be born in sin
Let me live as a saint
They only twirled a finger at their temples
And at a meeting of doctors
They unanimously declared
The fellow must be unwell
Terrible deceptions were forgiven
Like the lumps in a first pancake
All the wounds upon my heart healed
All the colourful dreams were forgotten
But I can only offer my apologies
I will not take back my words
Then, in an abandoned dungeon
Holy Jesus found me
A Mighty Violin
Why, mighty violin
Do you torment my soul until dawn?
The nightingales have long been caged
While wood grouse roam free
To an assortment of cheap sounds
They lead us to a chaotic paradise
In bloodstained shackles
Only you must not die
Pour out the cantata of life
Awaken the deafened birds
Tear these chains apart
And lead them in a flock into the sky
MUM
You never saw me poor and drunk
And never heard my songs
The sentence fate read out to me
Would surely have been enough for three
A mother’s warmth — it warmed even the sun
A mother’s love — you managed to save me
A mother’s tear — it did not freeze upon the palm
A mother’s soul — you did not forget me
Though you are no longer beside me, I believe
That love will never die
Forgive me, your careless son
He lives differently now
A mother’s warmth — it warmed even the sun
A mother’s love — you managed to save me
A mother’s tear — it did not freeze upon the palm
A mother’s soul — you did not forget me
I no longer smoke, carouse or drink
And I no longer take what belongs to others
I just love singing Romani songs
Believe me, I no longer lie
A mother’s warmth — it warmed even the sun
A mother’s love — you managed to save me
A mother’s tear — it did not freeze upon the palm
A mother’s soul — you did not forget me
The Azure Sky
The Azure Sky
Slips beyond the horizon
An extraordinary sunset
Hangs above my head
And it is as though the whole bright world
Grows still with you
When the last ray
Is led away under guard
Only the birds in the clouds
Unwilling to say goodbye
Fly somewhere higher
Unafraid of heights
And whoever said there is
Such a thing as lifeless nature
Cannot be overwhelmed
By this beauty
Dumplings and Beer
Bubbling in convulsive spasms
Are dumplings and beer in my belly
And they break apart in ecstasy
At a frequency beyond all limits
Mother Belly is having a party
While moderation sleeps outside the door
Those who know that measure
Do not have a tummy ache at night
Crucified on Love
Sorrow will melt in the rays of spring
Like the shadow of a sister with a cold gaze
We were born for one another
But poisoned ourselves with life’s venom
The sunset is crimson as blood
The Lord, reviving them with His breath
Will save those crucified on love
Proclaiming its law
Poets’ Statistics
The bitter statistics of poets
Not one was born during his lifetime
Who would want to listen to these lines
Unless you shot yourself for them?
On the way to the ears of millions
If only I could crawl to the hearts of a few
I will not wear a false crown
Bestowed by ignorant hands
You Will Not Break Me
If you twist my arms behind my back
If you crush my tongue in a press
And seat me on an anti-personnel mine
You still will not break me
Fire itself will be burned by me
And water will drown in water
It is impossible to fight an idea
For it does not grow in a beard
My only answer to you is a smile
And a poem of loving phrases
Like a “Golden Fish” wish-granting bureau
I fulfil your every whim
Tearing myself apart into cells
I regroup into a different composition
I am a rare specimen, of course
But love is my charter
Happy March 8
Accept, from the men of this planet
A bow like no other
A bouquet of every flower in the world
An advance on love and faithfulness
May soulmates grow closer
May dreams come true
May everyone love their neighbour
Let YOU and I love more deeply
Life’s Script
We are actors in the script of life
Playing our roles in a drunken haze
In spring we remember joy
And forget that sorrow ever existed
The fashion for passion in a mad world
Leaving its mark upon the living
Sinking to the bottom of a well
Rarely turns us towards the soul
Whoever does not seek a way towards the light
Tossing a coin for fate
Will be found for this world
As they discover a planet of their own
And in gratitude to this world
Only flooding our eyes with vodka
We wander into something unknown
Surprising ourselves with the discovery
Even the sea is known only so far
What will our descendants say of us?
Perhaps everything that happened to remain
Is the wreckage of unknown ideas
It is not too late to change the script
For God has given us talent
At dawn everything is all too clear
At sunset the road is hard
Without a ticket to this drama
If only I could find a row to fit my height
If there is no part for me on stage
Then at least let me applaud
The Poetic Virus
In the test tube of a passionate mind
I will multiply a poetic virus
Better for love to drive us mad
Than for our minds to lose themselves in nonsense
I release my virus onto the internet
It is time to infect everyone
To the unpredictable algorithm
Of a keyboard pen
Angels
If only the angels would whisper to me
An easier route to heaven
But a drunken demon took
My torn-off wings as a keepsake
If only the saints would shake my hand
For my beautiful poems
Give me a couple of eternal lives
And forgive all my sins
Lock me in paradise without a trial
Never to see freedom again
I would play upon such strings
Rather than waste away for nothing
And let love come in as well
To keep my soul company
Let her bustle about the kitchen
To the wild guitar’s lament
Bring all the people back here
The birds, the trees and the flowers
The scorching sun at its zenith
And forgotten dreams
All of this could happen
There is just one thing I cannot understand
Where can hatred and baseness
Be traded in for a conscience?
Where are You, God, why do You delay
Christ’s coming among us?
It seems the waiting room
Has nothing but empty seats
My heart contracted in a clot of blood
Here comes someone with a scythe to cure me
Without a surgeon’s intervention
We cannot be taught goodness
Wait just a moment
Someone has come to see me
Let me fall to my knees
And pray alone
If only the angels would whisper to me
An easier route to heaven
But a drunken demon took
My torn-off wings as a keepsake
A Minor
The old grand piano is in tears
I am playing in A minor
As though this summer
I had dreamed of escaping to the sea
And there, sparkling in the dark
Are phosphorescent splashes like fireworks
And there, people lie on their stomachs
Thinking of almost nothing
There I will sketch a couple of lines
On a wave that slips away
Perhaps the gentle sea
Will remember me someday
An Earth Studies Lesson in the Alpha Centauri System
Sit comfortably, children
I will tell you about humans
Having lost nature’s spirit
They are prisoners of their own ideas
They live on a little planet
And carry thoughts inside their heads
Their eyes sit beside their noses
And they have arms, but only two
They know little about us
And call us UFOs
They encode greetings for broadcast
Yet act only out of spite
But they have a great secret
Wild blood flows inside them
And this feeling gives rise
To something they call love
Lines of Genius
I do not read poems that are not my own,
Nor do I sing other people’s songs.
Giving birth to lines of genius,
I exhaust my very nature.
Was it worth crippling a life,
Astonishing others to the full,
With a monologue of false events,
Spent over a glass of wine?
I suffer at the hand of providence,
Straining an empty intellect.
I give birth to lines of genius,
Despite a genetic defect.
In these letters is the suffering of a heart.
In these tears is a romance of love.
In these thoughts is a flight to the stars.
My neck is wreathed in laurels, my nose in blood.
As though angels had descended from heaven
And skilfully guided the pen,
Lines of genius were born,
But what is that to me
If I cannot stir
Your den of untamed feelings?
Either something is wrong with you,
Or I am not much of a poet.
The blind lyre is dying.
No one has taken you seriously.
Weeping has become painfully indifferent,
Laughter irritating enough to bring tears!
CHARM
A hundred-carat diamond of love
With all its radiance
Will destroy the temple of my sorrow
Until my dying day
I will no longer grieve in secret
I will tear the gloomy charm from my face
Beneath it, in the shade, a daisy bloomed
In life’s flowerbed of wild roses
Where the wind howled and the frost crackled
A little white lamb grazes
Communion
With my rough hand
I keep stroking the muse against the grain
When with a mad line
I stir the thoughts of others
Like thunder trapped in the clouds
Driven by a breath of wind
I make my confession in verse
And take communion in inspiration
Camouflage
Lovers hide along deserted little streets
And behind this little bush they hold their breath
My hands, my little hands, my well-kept fingers
What would I do without you? I would probably just die
Some get camouflage, some get a beach
Some get their sweetheart on the stove
But I get a tram packed full
On payday
I could steal secret files from the Pentagon
If they issued a diploma for my profession
But I take my bread money from a crowded carriage
And, like YOU, I too am sheltered by Christ
Some get camouflage, some get a beach
Some get their sweetheart on the stove
But I get a tram packed full
On payday
How Can I Not Praise Myself!
How Can I Not Praise Myself!
Since I write poetry so splendidly,
That creatively, as an equal,
Among a deck of lofty words,
The laurels on my vain head
I am ready to share with history.
The Guitar
I have wandered with the winds
Above the mountain ridges
How beautiful you are, freedom
Where do you live?
Who dressed the guitar
In minor notes?
Why, delicate soul
Do you tear my heart apart?
I would pluck every string
If only my fingers were not splayed
I hope I do not lose my mind
You are all ablaze
I have never lied to you
You are my temple made of wood
How am I to blame if you yourself
Speak the truth?
Do not be sad if I fall apart
Take care of your acoustics
If the wind touches a string
Know that it is me
I will return to you all the same
As a little puddle, as a little bush
Then you will remember me
My darling
A Gentle Breath — Grand Prix
The wind does not know what happened between us
I can still feel your gentle breath
I will walk across the sky on starry paths
I could gaze into your eyes for eternity
Gaze into your eyes
In the valley of dreams, the birds sang to me
That you were playing in the clouds like an angel
And raindrops danced in the puddles
As you smiled at me like a rainbow
I weave the flowers of love into a braid
I can still feel your gentle breath
Now this heart resembles stone
Can you really not hear my words, even in heaven?
You cannot hear my words
Talent
In the dungeon of corrupt modesty,
I tried to hide my talent.
I locked it behind a solid door,
But it could not forget me!
I did not run very far.
It drove its carnivorous sting into me.
And how easy it is for me now
To shine with an extraordinary mind!
PS
How much easier it is on the internet
To read poems to an audience.
After all, they cannot pelt you
With rotten tomatoes!
In the Rays of the Divine Self
In the rays of the DIVINE self,
I often see a FOOL in myself.
And that is the nature of being,
And that, alas, is the nature of a sigh.
How hard it is to teach a FOOL
To reach towards GOD in his dreams.
How important it is to love that FOOL
And show him the road to the stars.
Forgive Us, God, for Love
Forgive us, God, for LOVE.
In the hour of passion, the flesh forgot its limits.
The heart pumps wicked blood.
Forgive us, LORD, for our faith.
Forgive us, God, for LOVE!
Entrust white robes to us.
Wearing them, we will destroy the throne of sin.
A wild beast led us through life.
Save our blind souls, FATHER.
Entrust white robes to us!
And to those lost in darkness,
Deprived of sight and hearing,
Reveal salvation in CHRIST.
Send the HOLY SPIRIT upon us!
Reveal salvation in CHRIST!
Starry Shore
The stage lights blazed like cannon fire.
And the music made the heart tremble.
The surf murmurs in a seashell.
Oh, Starry Shore — a sweet dream
We do not need fanfares or awards.
We can do without a ceremonial salute.
We find more joy in life’s little things.
For instance — British CURRENCY.
A Dialogue with the Gods
Nectar, delight of my soul,
Tell me, where can I find you?
Where are you, my spawn of hell?
My gentle angel in the flesh.
I am tired of praying through the night.
Yet I do not know why
My petition gathers dust up there,
No one has any use for it!
Frozen within a deep breath
Is the fire of furious love.
A curling lock of her hair
Fell from heaven into my palm.
I will smash the gates of paradise.
Where are you, my treasure?
I need the one dear to my heart.
GODS, GIVE HER TO ME!!!
