jesus Gustave Dore (1832-1883)

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

How we crucify Christ again,
And not Kazantzakis novel
We read with eager haste.
Christ is dead – and that is our flaw.

Christ is alive – and the heavens above us
With a sum of lightnings – Christ is alive -
Affirm it.
Gentle with sins,
We do not gather spiritual roses.

The waters of Jordan shine brightly
With a warm and golden brocade,
And embrace the Son of Man with light
- Stand firm!

The path to deification has been given
To the Son of Man – we will not repeat it!
In our deceitful modernity -
It would be so ridiculous. Go forth with him!

A dove shines gently in the sky.
Gods son goes on a sermon.
Black, dull faces all around,
A futile cycle of pale deeds.

How can he, born in a cave,
Acquire royal power and thick authority?
The wise men rode, believing in the event.
And Hell was wasting its sacrifices in vain.

They rode through the blue – and round -
Snow on camels and donkeys.
Shepherds came – the night bloomed absurdly,
With an incomprehensible joy in their hearts.

... in the office, a scam is brewing,
The fat boss rubs his hands together.
There are measures of crime, indeed.
Is Christ born in everyones heart?

Master Eckhart said: You could have been born
In Bethlehem a thousand times -
If it had not happened in your heart
That birth – nothing more than a story.

Here is the flight to Egypt – key point,
For an angel announced it.
What next? Your heart is restless,
Do you think about it? The fabric of events
You strive to feel – or did Christ on the East
Understand the wisdom of light?
But the Gospel verses will be silent.
However, there is a question.

Here is the miraculous catch -
The disciples were acquired by Rebbe.
Temptations in the desert – the word
Of light canceled it.
Many words
We know, believing that in union
Those are with the eternal Word of Words.
Who will be overcome by vanity now?
Few are ready.

... wars raged fiercely into reality,
Wars where they shed blood for faith.
Arrows, spears – as if life is banal,
And love is distorted around.

Christ entering Jerusalem,
Here he cleanses the temple from the greedy.
The sound of communion – real,
Such things we will not recognize in people.
Who was Joseph of Arimathea,
Who collected Christs blood in a cup?
Fulfilling their duty of being,
In that bitter, extremely difficult hour.
You are great, Christ – I know, I know,
I am a writer – I am too small.
And – alas, I do not suffer for you,
I am tormented by the sum of evils.

You are great – I turn to you,
Living word! Revive
My soul, if I cannot grasp it -
If it is in sins, almost in blood?

A garden full of lights, and flames
Soldiers hold torches, and here
Christ is taken, and passions pierce
People – they are full of it, waiting for something.
The trial of Pilate – a trial that is not a trial in essence.
He would have sent legionnaires
Dressed as Zealots... But this path
Is impossible, even though Pilate craved
To free such a beggar.
But the heights of law cannot be changed.
If Christ came from the word,
Then let it be according to the events.

They flogged them, fiercely, ridiculed them,
And they wove a crown of thorns.
And in a crimson cloud they frolicked
The whims of fleshly concerns.
Christ went, he went, bent by the cross,
Blood was made in capsules of sand.
Sacred blood...
Laughter, sharp tales
Raggedness and curiosity – where is love?
Its spherical volume is above us.
Who gives to the poor today?
Who fears sin? What – not a flame:
Sin is pleasant, it hardly burns.
Its spherical volume of love is above us.
Christ goes through a labyrinth of torments.
What flag of hostility have we raised?
The ignorance of our question -
True ignorance – to see,
To separate the essence from the tinsel.
Worship! Here is your rock idol!
Be happy – life is a kind of game.
Christian churches cannot
Heal with love.
We need our own thing, yogurt in the morning,
And we generally like to live sweetly.
We are holier! We are closer to Christ!
Inter-church dialogue will not happen.
We see nothing above the roof.
I do not judge – I ponder.
Here.
Here is Christ going, bent by the cross.
Here he is crucified. Resurrected. Light shines.
We grow – and steadily create
The garden of life.
And there are no alternatives.