The Saviour El Greco (1541-1614)

POEM ABOUT CHRIST

Reproduction by Mantegna or Holbein – where the body is like a landscape.
We are accustomed to distorted narratives,
To dead appearances and this landscape is ours.

Again, we crucify Christ,
And read Kazantzakiss novel
With ardent haste.
Christ is dead – and that is our flaw.

Christ lives – and the heavens above us
In a sum of radiance – Christ lives –
They affirm.
We are gentle with sins,
We do not gather spiritual roses.

The waters of Jordan shine
With a fiery and golden brocade,
And embrace the Son of Man with baptism – stand firm!

The path to deification, given to the Son of Man,
We will not repeat!
In our deceitful modernity –
It would be so absurd. Go forth with him!

A dove gently turns golden in the sky.
Gods son goes out to preach.
Black, stupid faces all around,
An empty whirl of pale affairs.

How can he, born in a cave,
Acquire royal power, a dense authority?
The Magi rode, believing in the event.
In vain did Hell crave sacrifice.

They rode on blue – and round –
On snow-covered camels and donkeys.
Shepherds went – the night bloomed with absurdity,
With an incomprehensible joy in their hearts.

... in the office, a scam is unfolding,
A fat boss rubs his hands.
There are measures for crimes, of course.
Is Christ born in every heart?

Master Eckhart said: You could have been born
In Bethlehem a thousand times –
If it did not happen in your heart –
No story about it will matter.

Here is the flight to Egypt – a key event,
Because an angel announced it.
What next? Your heart is troubled,
You think? The substance of events...

Do you strive to feel – or did Christ comprehend
The wisdom of light in the East?
But the Gospels are silent about that. However, there is a question.

Here is the miraculous catch –
The Lord acquired disciples.
Temptations in the wilderness – a word
Of light canceled out.
We know many words, thinking that
They are united with the eternal Word of Words.
Who will now be overcome by vanity?
Few are willing to do so.

... wars raged fiercely on reality,
Wars where blood was spilled for faith.
Arrows, spears – as if life were banal,
And love is distorted in its surroundings.

Christ enters Jerusalem –
Here he purifies the temple from the greedy.
The sound of supper – a true one,
That we cannot know, we humans.

Who was Joseph of Arimathea,
Who collected Christs blood in a chalice?
Having fulfilled his duty of existence
In a bitter, extremely difficult hour.
You are great, Christ – I know, I know,
I am a writer – exceedingly small.
And – alas – I do not suffer for you,
But am stung by the sum of evils.

You are great – I turn to you,
Life-giving word! Revive
My soul, if I do not comprehend it –
If it is in sin, almost in blood?

A garden, full of lights, and torches burn
In the hands of soldiers, and here
Christ is taken, and passions pierce
People – they are full of him, waiting for something.

Pilates trial – a trial that is not a trial at all.
He would have sent legionnaires
Dressed as Zealots... But this path
Is impossible. Let Pilate crave
To release such a beggar.
But the heights of law cannot be changed.

If Christ came from words,
Then he must exist through words and events.

They flogged, mocked fiercely,
And wove a crown of thorns.
And in a crimson cloud they frolicked
The whims of earthly concerns.

Christ went – he went, bent by the cross,
Blood was made in capsules of sand.
Holy blood...
Laughter, sharp tales,
Raggedness, and curiosity – where is love?

Its sphere is above us.
Who gives to beggars today?
Who fears sin? What? – not a flame:
Sin is pleasant; it hardly burns at all.

Its sphere of love is above us.
Christ goes through a labyrinth of torments.
What enmity have we raised as a banner –
The question of our ignorance?
True ignorance – the inability to see,
To separate the essence from the tinsel.
Worship! Here is your rock idol!
Rejoice – life is a kind of game.

Christian churches cannot
Heal with love – their cracks.
We prefer yogurt in the morning –
And generally we like to live sweetly.

We are holier! We are closer to Christ!
Inter-church dialogue will not happen.
We see nothing above our roof.
I do not judge – I reflect.
Here is.

Here goes Christ, bent by the cross.
Here he is crucified. He rose again. Light shines.
We grow – and steadily create
A garden of life.
And there are no alternatives.