We Struggle on without Those We Regard
In Memory of Bakhyt Kenjeev
Bakhyt Kenjeev/Qalam
Due to its educational aspirations, Qalam strives to explain the world - hence, every historical or cultural phenomenon considered here is accompanied by a wealth of additional information. However, in this section, we have decided to do without unnecessary words and familiar comments. Before you are fragments of verses collected from different eras and parts of the world, which seem to speak for themselves and are notably beautiful to us. As one modern lyricist expressed on a similar occasion, if it's without explanations; it's probably to do with something in one's blood.
They say time’s a river; man, a fleeting stream,
Suddenly sinking earthward—vanished, gone.
Mere trifles remain, misplaced keys that gleam,
A chewed pipe, spectacles, talk that lingers on.
Talk of Lazarus rising (deemed delusion,
Defying physics)—all that's left behind.
In others' souls, without light, confusion;
No lantern to guide us, we stumble blind.
They say those who bore music in their hands,
Destroying it like madmen in their throes,
Will surely fall to hell's consuming brands,
With those who led the innocent to woes.
They claim that death's a cosmic, grand explosion.
Not so. Or am I wrong, and in night's hush,
Can even sinners, through a hasty devotion,
Become equal to their love's fervent rush?
Behind the barbed wire of Earth's prison yard,
At death's faceless feast, in grief's darkest hour,
We struggle on without those we regard—
But how do they fare beyond mortal power?
Bakhyt Kenjeev (1950–2024) was a Russian poet and writer of Kazakh descent. Born in Shymkent, Kazakhstan, he emigrated to Canada in 1982 and spent his later years in New York.
