Olzhas Suleimenov
From "Farewell to Greece"
Ivan Besedin. Olzhas Suleimenov/Qalam
One of Qalam's primary aims is to illuminate and explain our world by exploring various historical and cultural phenomena. In this section, we have decided to do without unnecessary words and familiar comments. What you will encounter here are fragments of verses collected from different eras and parts of the world. These speak for themselves and are notably beautiful to us.
Hey, Greece,
you were fashioned by the crippled ones.
You're the cry of the Mute, the first sound of the Deaf,
you're the gaze of the Blind,
the light of their eyes,
you're the distant sun,
but now you're moonlight's chill,
they're calling you, turn around:
"What?"
From afar, your old-fashioned comparisons,
justify them, anything is possible,
and I-
an unconventional poet - will speak of elegance,
of the intricacies of earthly existence.
Olzhas Suleimenov (born 1936) is a Kazakh poet, writer, philologist, and public intellectual.