Görenoptik
Theodor Damian
tran. from Romanian by Muguraș Maria Vnuck* and David Vunck**
Ankara is calm
at midnight
I thought it was warmer
at the beginning of August
but it is perfect like that
at this time a man
properly dressed
in white
is sweeping in front of the door
of his shop which is called
Görenoptik
there are a lot of people in the street
and a lot of women wearing on their heads a batik
knotted under their chins
like I saw in my country
in my boyhood
when dreams used to mix with the sky
maybe this happens even now
who knows
“he who knows and riddle solves
will survive till end of dawns”
like Father Gică Vieru used to say
The Apocalypse has tumbled down on us
anyway
roads come to a dead end
they block up,
every day which passes the broad and large path way
becomes smaller
the Apocalypse itself
is on its last way
it wants to go in front at all costs
and crams in
finally
it will have to pay a peșkeș
many were called but few picked up
but it stays in me too
and nestled up into me thinking
that I cannot see it
so I thought, take it to the other side
in order to help it escape
disaster
The Gentleman in white is still sweeping
one can see he is conscientious
he does not care
about the signs of time
and that this world is turned upside down
Görenoptik
is important
it’s there where people have to stop
to see why they can’t see
to catch themselves
in the fact
The Apocalypse has broken free
nobody has caught it
and I haven’t betrayed it
one can never know when I need it
how nice
that wilderness hasn’t dashed it to the ground
Turks are nice
anything you need they’ll explain to you
walking with you even for more than one kilometer
but knowing nothing
about the Apocalypse
now it’s getting late
the gentleman dressed in white is gone
tomorrow customers will come and see
and they will see
what a cleaning he did
before leaving
but who will tell them about the Apocalypse
not even me
who has been waiting for them
in the wilderness of this late night
just one night
unlike any other
only like that one when Adam was looking
how from the forbidden tree mellow fruit
were falling
but they were not ripe to him
and yet unnamed
with their seeds in the darkness of the first light
adjusted
When he fell in disgrace
from God’s face
Adam had not yet named
everything
the unnamed things
more than the others
began to protest and cry
some became crazy
“Give me a name!”
they were screaming and laughing
poor Adam
the most blessed man
in this world
who could perceive essences
even before they could see him
“Adam, where are you?”
were things crying out
“I’m after Eve”,
he was telling them
and from the abyss of falling
even now-a-days he runs after her
it doesn’t matter whether you are in New York
or in Ankara
the only thing he did not know
was she
because he did not name her
nor did he name himself
yet the name was hidden in the kernel
hence our nostalgia
for the eighth day
and our dream from the thin night
“Give me a name!”
“What name?”
not even the Apocalypse has one
only Calypso has
the beautiful nun
who came to Neamț
by midnight
disguised
without mentioning that she was a woman
just like fire in front of the cave
does not seem to be a fire
but a spark
only after that can one see
after it has come in
when it burns
it blows up
and walks through the body as if in the house
refusing to get out from there
however the cave is stronger than fire
stronger
even than the Apocalypse
the cave with a bride’s destiny
“Adam, where are you?”
“I’m here,
I’m fighting the Apocalypse.”
here in Ankara
there’s nothing you can recognize out of it
in Ankara
not even
the place where bishops gathered together
to put heretics in their place
and give canons to the Church
In the meantime
Adam met
Eve
and since then they have been walking through
the Apocalypse like two scatter-brained people
whatever you put a name to
you know
but how could Adam know
Eve
if he did not name her
the name locked up in the kernel
maybe all the confusion
comes from the big falling
he falling down after her
in life and in death
faithfully
but waiting for the answer
and absolution
in Resurrection
Ankara is calm
at midnight
minarets flash
calls for prayers
the bridegroom stands still
at the cave
in front of the gate
Theodor Damian is a theologian, writer, and editor. He is a Professor of Philosophy and Ethics at the Metropolitan College of New York and president and founder of the Romanian Institute of Orthodox Theology and Spirituality, New York, and since 1996 he is the director of Lumină Lină / Gracious Light, a review of Romanian spirituality and culture. he has over 30 books in the fields of theology, philosophy, and literary criticism such as The Icons. Theological and Spiritual Dimensions According to St. Theodore of Studion (Lewiston, NY: The Edwin Mellen Press, 2002), Philosophy and Literature: A Hermeneutic of the Metaphysical Challenge (in Romanian, Bucharest: Ed. Fundaţiei România de Mâine, 2008), and poetry, such as Semnul Isar / The Isar Sign (translated from Romanian by Muguraş Maria Vnuck, Călăuza v.b., Deva, 2011), Apofaze (Bucharest, Tracus Arte, 2012) and Lazăre, vino afară (Iassy, Junimea, 2016).
*translator from Romnia. Lives in USA.
**translator from USA.
