Three Georgian Poems
By Laura
Three Poems by Galaktion Tabidze
The true way is along a rope that is not spanned high in the air, but only just above the ground. It seems intended more to cause stumbling than to be walked along.
- Franz Kafka
The Farther You Are
Galaktion Tabidze
The farther you are the sweeter you seem
Inside your soul I love my dream
It is untouched as a sunlight beam
Like the heaven it is unreached
And if you are not whom I think
I do not care, don’t let me think
My heart is sick, dreaming of you
You are white angel beyond my view
My heart flames hard when love comes near
I feel my soul gets encompassed with fears
Let me believe in love that makes tears
And let me tell you: I love you, my dear.
Like a path in autumn: scarcely has it been swept clear when it is once more covered with dry leaves. - Kafka
Snow Fell on Winter Gardens
Snow fell on winter gardens,
a coffin was brought out
and the standards unfolded
caught by the dishevelled breeze.
The roadway was desolate,
without form and without shape.
One more coffin was brought out...
The raven's exhortation:
Let the bells toll! Bury them!
Snow fell on winter gardens.
Our art is a way of being dazzled by truth; the light on the grotesquely grimacing retreating face is true, and nothing else. - Kafka
The Castle of Despair
I built a castle of despair,
I shut my anguish up inside.
From the realm of the dead they came
to look upon this citadel.
The castle they encircled tight,
but their might failed to breach the door.
Then they said: when the time will come
the door will open of itself.