Gennadi Kazakevitch “Mashiach won’t come” and “Betrayal”

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Hunting Woolly Mammoth
Hunting Wooly Mammoth
Gennadi Kazakevitch "Mashiach won't come" and "Betrayal"

 
MASHIACH WON’T COME

Mashiach won’t come
shells explode
in the land
where my ancestors lie
Mashiach won’t come
my ancestors rise from shooting pits
in Chernihiv, Sumy
Donbas
Mashiach won’t come
gunshot wounds
are healed
in my ancestors
Mashiach won’t come
my grandparents
are fighting for the freedom
of lying in undisturbed graves
 

МАШИАХ НЕ ПРИДЁТ

машиах не придёт
землю
в которой лежат мои предки
разорвали взрывы снарядов
машиах не придёт
мои предки встают из рвов
в чернигове сумах
донбасе
машиах не придёт
у моих предков
затянулись
огнестрельные раны
машиах не придёт
мои дедушка и бабушка
воюют за свободу лежать
в не растревоженных могилах
 
 
* * *
 

BETRAYAL

so many hunters
do not join their chiefs
in killing mammoths

not much food in smaller game
but a lot less fear in catching it

so many moseses
but no one
follows them

they’d hand you flatbread from behind
while ahead
nothing but desert
sunburn, starvation

so many sing
“hosanna” today
and shout “crucify him”
tomorrow

don’t shout in vain

soon a legion will come
and the temple will be no more

 
ПРЕДАТЕЛЬСТВО

сколько охотников
не пошли за вождями
на мамонтов

в мелких животных не столько еды
но не страшно ловить каждый день

сколько моисеев
но за ними
нет никого

сзади лепёшку дадут
а впереди
только солнце
пустыня и голод

сколько сегодня
поющих осанну
а завтра кричащих
«распни его»

зря не кричите

скоро войдёт легион
и храма не станет
 

Translated from Russian by the poet

About the Author:

gennadi-kazakevitch
Gennadi Kazakevitch
Melbourne, Australia

Gennadi Kazakevitch was born in Moscow and grew up in Siberia.  He graduated from the economics department of Moscow State University.  He lives in Melbourne, Australia, where he teaches economics at Monash University.  He is a columnist in Australian media on matters of economics. He authored two collections of poetry in Russian with translations, and his Russian poems were published in various literary journals and collections.  He won the first translators’ prize at a literary competition “Emigrantskaya Lira 2019” in Belgium.

Gennadi Kazakevitch Геннадий Казакевич
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