Dimitar Hristov

PASSION

Do not cling to me,

Be yourself.

Lovers are not

Siamese twins.

Do not afraid be ever to stay

Alone with your love.

It’s definitely better,

Than not to love at all.

Do not turn the lovers’ nest

Into a prison.

Will you patch the sails tightly?

I plugged the leaks.

And I scraped the water.

Let’s sail in the dark!

A bubbling abyss of Passion

Will sway us.

To fly and sink,

To burn and drown…

We withstood the storms,

The beasty cold, and the fatigue.

But it creeps inside us –

The fear of calm defeat…

With wings against the wind

The birds rise!

Freedom is the other name

of Love.

PARTING

You are drifting away, further and further from me,

But I shall not follow you,

I will stay right here, I will wait for you.

When you think you’re the furthest,

You will meet me again

Cause the Earth is round, isn’t it?

But then I will leave,

Because everyone should

Walk his own way

To the other.

NOAH’S ARK

Love will survive

After the storm debris will sway –

The remnants of politics

Overboard everything will turn dead

Forgetfulness will make sure –

No more armories,

We will bless the rust

Which grinds the guillotines,

And out of the decay eternal

Such a life will flourish

That no one will ever die

Except from overwhelming passion

Or unshared tenderness.

FRAGMENTS

1.

Let’s take an example from the birds –

they eat just a handful of berries,

but high they fly.

2.

The writer must be like a camel –

to endure thirst, hunger and a long way,

the rest is a matter of talent.

3.

Loneliness

is the closest friend

of the artist.

4.

Shyness

is the most beautiful

garment of nakedness.

5.

When the woman weeps,

the man is suffering …

When the man weeps, the woman is rejoicing.

6.

Thoughts

are wings for the industrious

and shackles for the lazy.

7.

The direction

of wind

is always forward.

8.

The top

is often the beginning

of an abyss.

9.

Blind is the lover,

but brave he is

and never hesitates.

10.

Between birth

and death

the difference is in the dates.

11.

Art

is eternal

but Life is more eternal.

12.

God

is one,

but people are diverse.

Translated from the original Bulgarian by Svetoslav Nahum