SONGS FOR BROKEN STRINGS
«In my opinion, "Songs For Broken Strings" is one of the outstanding poetry cycles published in XXI century»
Malkhaz Kharbedia, literary critic
EXTRACT
Translated into English by Peter Scotto
TO A HOSTAGE WHOSE HEAD WAS CUT OFF
Hostage
whose head they cut off
forgive me
if at the time
they were cutting off your head
I, unaware,
was cooling my face and neck with water.
Forgive me
that I could not help
that in my way
I belong to the same reality
that would not spare you…
The earth turns
and it’s possible
that at this moment
I could be looking up
at the same patch of sky
below which
your freshly-severed head
was lying on the ground.
And forgive me
that not even a tooth of mine aches.
But if
from all my poetry
just a single drop of church can be extracted
then that church must number you among the saints
and it believes
that when they start to set off atom bombs
that among those who render them harmless
heaven will send – you.
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