As patina veils the surface of bronze,
so blood veils the maestro’s countenance.
Pasolini‘s murder was decreed
for attempting to grasp the Golden Fleece [i].
…Medea walks over the rasping sands
and as she walks, seafoam bathes her feet…
The media, attempting to follow her, persist,
and distress the king with their continual pleas.
BBC:
CNN and we are deeply concerned
regarding the destiny of your children.
…The First Lady of the universe, unheeding,
walks on, ignoring the media’s hyenas.
A new poem whispers in my ears –
Medea is celebrating a fiery Mass [ii].
How vain are the media, how they insist,
but neither time, nor the tabloid press,
can now ever reach her.
The cameraman is trying to, but in vain –
waves wash away her footprints in the sand.
Rest in the peace of God, my child!
The burning fire has within it a divine sign.
Queen, I beseech you,
while I desire to be your chevalier,
I am the victim of repeated blows.
I hold in my hands a chalice,
empty of all delight [iii].
Queen, I beseech you,
if you hear my plea…
I’ll send poems as prayers to heaven nightly,
and heaven, as God is my witness, has sent me
a pass for travelling through the barriers of Time.
And I feel Time is in my grasp
when, every now and again,
I halt the flow of the world.
Let water wash away [iv] any reward,
the only reward I desire is Medea’s hand.
Medea is coming across the sands…
her walk has a beginning,
but it has no end
because Cupid’s arrow once fired [v]
desires its quarry evermore.
Modernism replaced Empire [vi] on the shore,
as Parliament replaced the anointed king,
Medea is coming
along the sands …
and seafoam bathes her feet.
A minute wildflower tucked in her hair
will bloom again with ancient hope.
Medea is coming over the sands…
and maybe she mourns, maybe has lost
the memory of her children.
The splash of the Argonauts’ oars
is followed by the antique Colchis’ refrain [vii].
I take puff after puff of my cigarette,
and follow the shore as if to the horizon.
I will sing my Ode to the Catwalk
while Paris is still Paris…
polished
and poised
as Medea walking along the sands. [viii]
Endnotes
[i] In the first stanza the poet plays with words. he uses pairs: პატინა (patina) – წაეპოტინა (“tsaepotina”- with the meaning of “grasp”). In the Georgian language, these pairs sound similar.
[ii] Service in the church
[iii] There won’t be any joy until the poet is allowed to be the queen’s courtier and walk with her in arm in arms. That’s what he desires and asks for.
[iv] May Water demolish
[v] Cupid
[vi] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empire_style
[vii] Home to Medea and the Golden Fleece https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colchis
[viii] In the last stanza the poet uses pairs: მოდა (Moda – meaning “trend”), – მადა (Mada – meaning “taste”), Medea, and მოდის (Modis – meaning “walking”). Their sounds are almost identical.