2021.04.24.
Sapphire Palace
Versions: #1Among the cliffs, hidden from the world,
Removed from worldly hectic life,
The Palace of Sapphire stood tall
He hides magic powers inside.
No one knows, who build it and when
This palace, in untrodden place before,
And why was it given by God or man
Such a grand name forever more.
But there were rumors from time long gone,
That in this amazing magic place
Ruthless spirits made their home,
In the silver chest they keeping safe
Marvelous blue stone, the Sapphire,
The essence of it, is witchcraft, the beginning,
It has the power over the ice and fire,
And the whole world of earthly being.
And who will overcome the barriers,
And rise the stone above their head,
Will receive as an award, no less
All the power over life, fate and death.
And hundreds of years this legend
Attracted to itself those brave men,
Gathering them all over the land,
From every side and every end,
By foot and in saddle, together and separate,
They followed the legend so strange and ancient
To disappear forever without a trace,
The best of sons, of many nations.
The palace, probably, strictly concealed,
The secret owner of the stone, -
So many looked for it, and many will
But not a single one returned...
Once upon a time near steep mountains,
At work and faith, without a worry,
From ancient and long forgotten time
The hard-working people lived, it's their story...
They plow, hunt and raised some stock,
As well, they catch fish in the lake,
Their craftsmen were famous for their work,
They were unsurpassed in science and trade
Their merchants with success conduct
In the desserts, overseas and mountains
They trade and found for a fact,
The honor in the foreign lands.
In mutual respect and kindness
The happy folks lived and flourish here
Of treachery and petty crimes
They never heard and didn't fear.
They were beautiful in body and soul
In their kind and pious way
They lived together, one for all,
And kept the adversity away.
For their freedom they always struggle,
Never were captive and deprived,
Always rebuffed any kind of rubble, -
And raids by unfriendly tribes,
To incursions of shameful barbarians
They presented counter forces
A troop of best-chosen men
And suffer reasonable losses.
And a lone stranger and a traveler,
Once end up here by mere chance,
Was glad to stay here forever
Forgetting distant Motherland,
And, perhaps, all seeing gods,
Paying tribute to piety and zest,
The fine dwellings of those folks
They blessed without any jest.
But, sadly, everything goes away...
There is no permanence in anything, -
Trouble keeps friendship with happy days, -
It came even into their dwelling.
NEWCOMERS
In broad daylight, from afar has come,
Asking for a shelter for the night,
Very sad looking caravan,
Bringing bad news, when it arrived
The people gathered from all around,
To listen a sad story of tired men,
The children cried with frightful sound,
As if they felt an evil hour upon them.
A sternly look was in the eyes of youth,
Belligerently frowning their brows,
For them, everything in newcomers was news,
Young blood was boiling in every house.
The vehemence from youth is clear to anyone:
When growing, sometimes, whence,
Young people looking for the spots on the sun,
Indulging in the game of insolence...
With understanding, and passion
The elders have approached them,
Honoring the unfortunate ones with compassion,
With a bow and shaking of the hands.
Only with age, in our soul, we realize
Ability to take to heart and mend
Someone else's pain, be strict and dry,
But, of course, to understand...
The people took newcomers in,
Brought them some water, food to eat
While took the guests for fire victims,
Gave honey and coins to the kids.
No one start the conversation there,
It was so established on this land, -
Everyone was waiting for Veda to appear,
Only to him was given then.
The right to speak by folks,
And he, the oldest of them all,
He judged wisely, soberly and talk
And was known as people’s soul
He was heeded with reverence,
And no one questioned his ways
About his advice, predictions, plans
They always carried certain weight.
He could talk to all their gods,
He kept the traditions of times long gone
With history circles, he was well versed
And foreign languages he learned.
He was tall and dry, with kind face,
Dressed in a discreet long white cloak,
Was kind and down to earth in his grace,
The ruler and the servant of the folk.
And Veda soon appeared at the meeting place,
He ascended on a small pedestal,
He saw grief in each of newcomer’s face,
The people for silence he called.
Instantly the rumble has died,
As soon as elder gave a sign,
And people fixed their eyes
On faces of strangers: sad and resign.
These were old men, the kids
And women... The sadness in the eyes and worry,
Broke everyone’s hearts to bits...
The newcomers began the story:
We're here not by our will, gods know
The kind of fate that ours to keep
For many days we're already on the road
Without the food, rest and sleep
Far from here, by the lakes
Was spreading our beloved country's side
And life on the blue vast spaces
For us it was, well, paradise...
But, unexpectedly from the east
The insidious enemy came to wage a war
Perhaps nowhere in the world, such a cruel beast,
Committed those atrocities before.
Without wasting a minute, they rise
Our men, old and young,
And for a long time, they fought and died,
And from the battlefield no one
Came back. And we picked up our belongings and went
Set off on our sad way,
So, we can prevent dying of torment
And live, at least somehow and be safe...
A farewell look back, and what? All has disappeared
There were no more fearful pictures, or dire
Everything, that was for us so dear,
Was burning like a thousand fires.
Covered in blood was all of our domain
Of husbands, who went to war, away...
All of the orphans and widows’ pain,
What we are carry in us now, we couldn't convey...
An anxious murmur rolled around
Among the crowd, but then it died.
A heavy sigh, and again the sound
Of the guest’s story, and their sad plight.
Days and weeks on the road were gone,
We were exhausted day and night,
But we didn’t dare to linger on
After all, the enemy for sure organized
Its pursuit, and followed behind their forces
But, maybe, changing their pace to slow,
Calmly, all their hordes on horses
Coming here… God forbid so.
And unfortunately, one thing, for certain, will remain, -
They will not stop or disappear.
They came now, they will come again,
Then, God save all of you, my dear…
And here is, to all of you, our advice
Believe me, we want to help, -
Do not wait for troubles to surprise,
Leave everything and run like hell.
If glorious freedom and life is worth
And dear to you, get ready to go, don’t despair,
For kind people, a piece of earth,
You’ll always find somewhere.
But if to perish you all decide,
And long, hard road not willing to embrace
Just give us a shelter for the night.
Anywhere and any place.
And early morning, before dawn
We will leave, so in the distance, we can praise
Your people with the kind song,
That chose death for the land sake.
Bad news, I don’t deny, -
Said Veda in total silence.
Trouble… Thank you for an advice…
Brings me the pain your circumstance.
But I would like to ask you, do you mind?
May the great Lord keep you safe
And help you at this hard time,
The evil enemy, who are they?
And there was an answer: We won’t lie,
We don’t know, but with us
We carry an invalid, he has survived
He is able to tell about the wars of Darkness.
Ask him, from enemy hands
Somehow, he managed to escape,
Now, he is weak and wounded man,
His lot is bad, we are afraid.
Carefully people moved aside
They brought the poor man, he moaned.
You can’t imagine what he looked like
Was he still alive or gone?
Without the hands and one leg amiss,
His scars made people turned their eyes…
In glory rejoiced the enemies.
It’s a real miracle, that he is still alive.
He was a strong man, I suppose,
If he could endure so much pain,
He caught his breath and froze
And the elder ask him again
In the eyes of that poor soul bewilderment,
The sufferer, was obviously dying,
With difficulty, wheezing from terrible torment,
He very quietly was answering:
I don’t know who, I’ll tell what kind,
Believe me, my brain works quite well,
Where such words to find,
To describe… Even in Hell,
Even in there, perhaps, none like these
Creatures, that borne by Devil before,
Equally, so fierce and vicious,
Equally, breathing, living the war.
Creatures. Yes, yes, they are not of human race,
There are no more frightening creatures on Earth,
And never will be like these again to face
The world will never see this frightful curse.
For me, even to remember is not so simple,
They were christened the warriors of darkness,
They are twice as big as normal people,
And many times, stronger than us.
Mighty torso, crudely put together,
But flexible, as if without the bones,
A heavy tail, as if it’s stranded
Into a rope from thousands of thongs.
These creatures have instead of feet
Two paws, with a claw that’s very long.
And three hands with two elbows,
Form each elbow protruding horns.
They are covered like a beast with fur,
In places, they’re covered with hard scales.
They squeal with their vile maw
In the battle, like slaughtered pigs they wailed.
And something between snake and bird to us
The unbeliever’s heads, looked like,
Burning like the ragged scars
Their maws, with fiery eyes.
Their blood is boiling with fetid smell.
Burning everything to the ground.
Together they can be seen like a herd from hell,
But separately, evil devil’s hounds…
The brave warrior, cut short his story,
Like a dew, In the cripple eyes
There were tears… No more worries
He died, looking towards the sky…
Seeing this, the elder tall and proud,
With sadness he bowed his head,
But kept his voice so clear and loud,
Said quietly: You may be dead.
Your gest for centuries will live in legend…
He closed unmoving eyes…
As he approached the dead man,
It doesn’t befit the hero to cry…
For centuries the people honor the heroes
And glorified the people’s feats,
From whose actions matured shoots are grows
With purity of the ideas, in their kids.
The people were moved and silent,
And waiting, while holding breath,
What will he finally pronounce than?
Grey-haired oracle, they guessed.
My mind
Wandering in search of a decision, -
The old man said and again looked at men
After all, no one question his vision,
Veda knew the sense of judgement.
The wiseman continue: My people!
I need some time before the sunrise,
The night will bring us all the answers…
A terrible time has arrived.
For now, go to your homes, do not worry,
And give guests a tribute in a modest feast.
Come together again tomorrow morning,
Make sure the guests have a place to sleep.
For now, that’s my order, folks.
And in quiet whisper said:
Tonight, I need to ask the Gods.
When people, broken by anxiety and sad,
Finally, settled down and fell asleep,
In the small and modest room, he sat
Got down to business our sage indeed,
No, he didn’t brew some magic potions
And dopey smoke he didn’t breathe in
He didn’t fiddle with holy relics for emotion,
In his own mind he immersed within.
Into composure and exclusion,
Entrusting heartbeat to his fingertips…
He sees the providence in the conclusion,
Able to hear his own lips…
Undisputed leadership, his fate,
Worthily, without getting taste for it,
Their aim, is an idea. They create…
Their duty is the burden of responsibility…
NOK
By morning all the honourable folks
Gathered again to hold a council,
And wait, and make noise, and talk:
What kind of answer will the elder give?
Finally, among the massive crowd
The Prophet quietly appeared
Dressed In a deep mourning shroud
On people’s faces everywhere fear.
It seems, that something is not right,
If he decided to dress like this,
He must’ve had a sleepless night,
It’s not a good sign, a sad appearance of his.
Sisters and brothers, he starts to shout,
Last night I asked the Gods,
How to avoid misfortune and get out
The answer very harsh I’ve got.
Countless hordes of evil foes
Coming here, there is no doubt.
And their arrival for sure will cause
For all of us great dial of trouble.
We can equip a troop, with help from Lord
Everyone will rise, old and young,
And proudly they’ll meet the horde,
Under the ringing of the bell alarm.
Freedom for us is the most important.
And brothers will stand next to each other
In the name of their Motherland.
And everyone will gladly die
For their father, mother.
But the chances to win the fight...
There are none. You must know.
Doomed to defeat
Our attempts to beat the foe
The poor man, who died here yesterday,
He was right in his judgement, -
Neither the strength of spirit, nor the courage
We displayed,
Alas, won't save us from them.
They aren’t people, if we will fight
It's a waste of time. We all die here,
So be it, if to fight now we decide
We begin to prepare