To Georg  Mateos

Once a Century a genius is born,
The common wisdom says,
But Khayyam’s clout posted record
And made the Mankind wait
For ten times longer
Until Georg  Mateos
Brought Khayyam’s words to life.

Khayyam a drop of water glorified
And turned it in impervious star
Until  Georg Mateos immortalized it yet again.
Omar Khayyam was partial to wine
In which he tried to drown his chagrin,
But no such wine exists to wash away
The pain that Georg endured.

His pain remained in verse to stay
Engaged forever with Khayyam.
Omar Khayyam remains
My true eternal love,
In who’s sweet verse
I always found delight.
This love uncovered hidden path
That led me to  Georg  Mateos
To make me happy once again
In poet’s glory basked.

Georg was unwanted as a little child
Just to become a darling of the people.
God chooses to deprive us of  a gift
Yet to bestow another one of value
Surpassing the original bequest.

A poet’s tender heart, akin a bird
Perched on a crooked branch
With broken wing, and, longing for a flight,
Inquired of Creator time and again:
“Do you recall the one you mercilessly thrashed,
to whom you sent one pain after another, who’s
life you turned to Hell?”

It’s challenging to be Omar Khayyam:
It took him centuries to climb to sunlit summit.
And dearly he paid for his triumph:
In solitude and blood of his  heart  his verse was written.
In “broken mirror clad in ice, which hangs in empty room”, in martyr’s eyes you’ll find the words
That yesteryear were written,
Yet you will cherish those words forever,
The wind was whispering to poet,
Who longed for love in anguish and despair.

Liana Margiva

Translated from Russian by Anatol Kardiukov