COLOSSI OF MEMNON Jean-Léon Gérôme (1824-1904)

WE LIVED IN EGYPT

1
Gardens of inscriptions shine
With azure, vermilion, ochre.
They change consciousness little.
Here is a slave gazing like a dead fish.

Well, what are slaves but people?
There are countless bodies at the pyramid.
And what liquid is in that vessel?
Yous sweating profusely from the heat.

The power of nobles is almost limitless.
And enormous incomes
Create an illusion of freedom.
Does the crocodiles jaws inspire fear?

Priests keep all secrets from
The uninitiated... Or perhaps not.
However, with a sense of wonder,
The poet lives on.

2
Emaciated slaves drag blocks,
Diligently building pyramids -
In their own rigid destiny,
They cannot see the beauty of the sun.

The fertile Nile always flows.
The crocodile became a cruel god.
The labyrinth, of course, will not be
Navigated by a random, lonely person.

There is harmony in great cities,
Vineyards promising wine.
In the sum of fleeting years,
We will eventually find lifes secret.

3
From stone – sculptures.
In them there is only peace, no daring.
A magnificent pantheon exists -
And it is needed by the state.
Chariots will fly to torment
Enemies again.

4
The overseer whips a Jew.
Onions with bread, beer for lunch.
An idea is important to us as a core concept.
Details will come together into a plot.
And stones reveal power,
If the mind is persistent like an arrow,
That finds its target, like perspective,
Committing unjust deeds.

5
There is no sweetness stronger than grapes,
And there are no flowers more beautiful than alcaeus.
The scribe does not leave his chambers,
He stares at the scroll for a long time.
Water and wine are clearer. Laws
Of destiny are unknown. Pharaohs are immortal.
Dynasties follow each other like waves.
And life is a hostage to an unknown will.

6
Now we have countless madmen -
A wanderer walks by, mumbling under his nose.
We know that death is a gift of metamorphosis.
And life consists of past days.

But the Nile delta promises paradise
On Earth, if the soil is fertile.
Over years and centuries, we have learned that
Any faith will lead you to the edge...

Whoever skillfully embalms bodies,
Knows the power of salt and solutions.
Merchants are rich – dark deeds!
And records for uneducated eyes
Are like grains of sand... In the desert, the light is bright,
And Osiris himself looks at human affairs, -
Thus thinks the pharaoh in the expanse of years,
What darkness constantly consumes.

7
The number will determine fate.
The tree will recognize carving.
The boat will recognize the tenderness of water -
Everything happens in its own time.

The earthly judge is harsh and strict.
And a god looks at the scales.
The Sphinx is unmoving. And it is difficult
To understand all numbers -
And decipher their rhythm.
If night comes, then you must sleep.