ALEXANDER PAK

 

1

 

Hello, gray-haired Sparta,

Blessed with glory through the ages!

And you, Menelaus, brave warrior and proud Achaean!

It's me, a distant descendant of the barbarians

From an age of great speeds

I hasten to consult with you:

How can I break the eternal triangle of love,

As you once did, I want to emerge victorious from captivity ...

Listen to me, yellow-faced Asian

With eyes like the blade of a knife

Menelaus, the glorious king of Sparta, will speak:

Every mortal, every lover,

Living under the sky and the burning sun,

Must for love, for Helena the Beautiful

If not destroy, then rebuild Troy

 

2

 

You’re not walking, you’re floating

Like a white Steamboat

On the sidewalk roller conveyor.

And the hem of your skirt flutters

Above the waterline of your knees ...

The broken through spray of the sea

And I anchor my gaze

Measuring the depth of your feet...

 

3

 

Three women,

Three goddesses,

Three springs,

Three Troubles

Stab the soul like a trident.

Which of the three

Was dearer to me, I don't know.

I did not have the courage

To become Paris

And to resolve this dispute with passion.

But to this day,

As a memory of them,

I bear a mark on my forehead -

Three wrinkles

three nicks,

Three dried up rivers,

That once flowed

Into my heart...

Translated from Russian to English by Andrea Ostertag

 

ALEXANDER PAK

ALEXANDER PAK was born on May 14, 1953 in the village of Khudzhaili, Uzbekistan, in karakalpat. Belongs to the union of writers of Russia. He graduated from the I. E. Repin Academy of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg. He was mainly interested in graphics. He participated in many exhibitions, organized at home and abroad. During the VIII Festival” published in Altai”, which was dedicated to the 125th anniversary of the founding of the Regional Scientific public library named after V. J. Shishkov in Altai, the winners of the competition in the category” best poetic collection “received a collection of his poems together with a graphic entitled”Shadow of a butterfly”. His works also illustrated national and regional anthologies and collections of poetry by the authors of the Altai country, while the graphic entitled “Adam and Eve” appeared on the cover of the manual for family physicians entitled “fundamentals of clinical education in reproductive health” (1999). Pictures of Alexander Pak appeared in the wall calendar “Kyrgyzstan-2000″, which was printed under the auspices of UNESCO. He is the author of the Olympic sign”IV Summer Olympic games of small towns of Altai”. In contrast, the monument to St. Peter and Fevronia designed by him is located in front of the civil status office in slavgorod and the village of kosicha, which is located on the territory of the Siberian Altai territory, which is part of Russia. In 2009, in Barnaul, was released the album of Alexander Pak entitled “graphics”. His works are in private collections in Russia, Kyrgyzstan, France, Germany, Belgium and Japan. He is the winner of literary competitions, m.in. international poetry competition “golden stanza 2012″, in which he took second place. He published in the” Russian anthology of the White poem”, in the Moscow literary magazine” Arion”, as well as in the anthology” the word about the mother”, which was published in Italy. The author has published a number of books of poetry, including: Russian-German collection “Apple of sin”, for which he received the award “Best Book of the year” (2007); Russian-German collection “hieroglyph of loneliness” (2015); Russian-Korean-German collection “you and I”, for which he received the prize of the all-Russian competition “Germany of Russian origin in the vanguard of the future” (2017). For his activities in the field of culture, Alexander Pak was awarded the prize” golden pen of Russia “(2016) and the honorary medal of the Altai Republic” for services to society ” (2013).