The Icon of Saints of the Prison from Aiud
(for the martyrs of the communist prisons)
motto:
"another cubit of life poured out
another palm long the body shrivelled"
elias loennrot, kalevala
we hear ourselves crack like a nut in the nutcracker
something happens on the upper plank-bed when shoulderless and tearless
living dead in a lime pit
we kiss in awe
the only thought
written in splinters under the corner of an eyelid
porridge and freedom sip from the bottom of the platter
a supplement from the love ratio,
a boot tip throw us on the corridor
dancing upon the suffering in the shirt
signed with blank policies
with a distant sound
the blows ask us who we are
until our trunks detach from our heads
and the shapes appear reversed like trees in water
we don’t have the teeth to crush the snake that crawls into our mouths
we can’t lift the sky to our lips like we do a milk bowl
locked in one last confession
with eyes almost closed and the head tilted to the left
we find ourselves hanging by a thread
revealed by the rhythmic movement of the lips
suddenly the windows are slammed shut
the flesh tenderizes under the blows
big winged angels struggle to get in
but they can’t pass through the glass and saddened
they watch us in the semi-dark
until the windows turn black
where to run when the night
pulls us out from the crust of sin
and unhesitatingly counts the falls,
when the angel of God gets us out into the light
not through the prison gates,
but through the breath of the martyr
lying face-up
on the wet concrete floor
(poem inspired by Virgil Maxim’s accounts,
Hymn for the Cross They Bore, 2 vol., Gordian Publishing House, Timişoara, 1997)
(poem published in the volume "catacombe. aici totul e viu" ("catacombs. everything is alive here"), Vinea Publishing House, Bucharest, 2008, pp. 45-46. English translation: Simona Sumanaru.)
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