„Trebuie sa suferi, pentru a pricepe moartea înainte.”

Michelangelo

Fecioara Maria tine în brate

trupul fiului sau, dupa crucificare

si parca-i aud plânsul…

Marmura celor doua trupuri straluceste,

o lumina coboara din ceruri,

alta vine din interiorul materiei,

învaluind sufletele chinuite:

Unul plecat spre ceruri,

altul ramas pe pamânt…

Clipa prezenta pare ombilical legata

de cea din trecut!

Strâng pumnii de parca-as strânge

durerea clipei;

ca pe un ghem o stâng,

îl despletesc apoi si-ncep sa-nteleg

tristetea muta de pe chipul Fecioarei.

Cu puterea gândului masor

durerea profunda a mamei,

la pierderea vietii Fiului mult iubit

si ma tulbura geniul lui Michelangelo,

explozia lui de spiritualitate, de idee,

transformând materia,

dându-i, din întreg sufletul lui,

forma de gratie, de stare divina,

dainuitoare peste veacuri,

marturie a celor întâmplate…

Stiu, „Statuia nu transcende lumea!”

Si totusi, cât de aproape îmi pare acum,

statuia de icoana!

 

“you have to suffer,
to better understand death beforehand.”
MichelangeloI separate myself of time,
I become dumbfounded in the face of the statue…
Virgin Mary holds in her arms
the body of her son, after crucifixion
and I feel like I can hear
the stifled cry of the mother.
Behind me, a visitor shouts:
“The statue doesn’t transcend the world!”
The marble of the two bodies shines
my soul hugs
the face of Virgin Mary…
A light descends from the skies
another coming from inside the material,
enveloping the clothes of the tortured souls:
Another left toward the skies,
another left on the earth…
And the present moment becomes umbilically tied
to the one from the past…
I tightly hold the hand of the quiet moment
like a ball of yarn I hold it,
I unravel it and then I understand
the sacrifice, the mute sadness
on the face of the Virgin Mary;
With the power of thought I measure
the profound pain of a mother
of the loss of her one and only Son…
and the genius of Michelangelo disturbs me,
his explosion of spirituality, of idea
transforming matter,
giving it, from his whole soul,
graciousness, divine state
lasting ages,
evidence of what happened…
Oh, how close I feel now, the statue of an icon!

By VAVILA POPOVICI

Raleigh, NC