What is Shinto? (arts of Japan cycle)

 

INVISIBLE WORLD

In a place called Izumo on the western coast of Honshû island, in a forest of gigantic cedars, stands a wooden house covered in a thatch. It is not any old house, its very size amazes, it is 24 metres tall. Which is nothing, they say that in the past it was several times taller. Several times in its history it was dismantled and rebuilt, each time the new version was smaller than the previous one. In Heian times it was supposedly 48 metres tall and before that it was reaching almost 100 metres! This is, at least, what they say. You can't see its inhabitant, which is hardly surprising, because it is Ôkuninushi, the lord of the invisible world of Japanese islands. Once a year he invites all other gods to his place, so nobody should be surprised about the size of the house. The visitors come on invisible mounts, sacred stables have been built for them.

IN THE FORM OF A MIRROR

In a place called Ise on the eastern coast of Kii peninsula, in a similar cedar forest, stands a much smaller house, also thatched. It may be smaller sizewise, but not less important, as the person who lives there is Sun herself. Sun (a woman of course) lives normally in the sky, but in her house she is present in the form of a mirror. Sun is the ancestress of the imperial family, she herself gave this mirror to her descendants as insignia of their imperial power. This is perhaps why there is money to rebuild it regularly every 20 years. Only in the years 1462-1585, during the difficult period for the divine rulers, there was a longer break. It was probably built sometime mid- 7^th century.

POO ON THE THRONE

In another wooden building, in a place called Kumano on Kii peninsula, lives Blizzard, the younger brother of Sun. He used to live in heaven, but he was a mischief, once he made a poo on the throne of his venerable sister, she sat in it and as a punishment he was sent down. He actually went to the netherworld, but in Kumano he is present in the form of an object, although nobody remembers what the object is. The holy object is hidden from mortals and nobody has seen it for hundreds of years. In Kumano also the parents of Sun and Blizzard are present. They fished out Japan from the sea in the very beginning of time. It is interesting that although Sun is the higher divinity, Kumano was always more popular pilgrimage destination. Emperors did not move from Kyôto for centuries except on a pilgrimage to Kumano.

FOUR LITTLE HOUSES

In Kasuga Taisha in Nara in a wooden little house lives Amenokoyane, the divine ancestor of the Fujiwara family. It is not an unimportant spirit, according to Kojiki he played the chief role in wooing Sun from the cave when the young lady was sulking one day and hid there. In Kasuga actually there are four little houses, in each one a deity is present in a sacred object. All those deities are somehow connected to the ancestors of the imperial family. One of those deities travelled on a deer, therefore sacred deer are kept in Nara.

FOXY MESSANGERS

In Fushimi Inari Taisha the deity present is Fertility under the name of Inari. Inari has foxes as messengers, therefore one sees plenty of stone foxes there. There are thousands shrines dedicated to this deity in Japan, you can tell them by the stone foxes you see there. The Kojiki chronicle does not mention Inari, even though it is one of the most popular deities in Japan. Sometimes Inari is identified with Toyouke, Fertility of Rice Fields, who has a sanctuary in Ise, close to the one dedicated to Sun. This is, however, just a guess; Shintô does not have theologians who would try to prove such things.

EIGHT BANNERS

Emperor Ôjin is present under a form of an object in his sanctuary in Usa on Kyûshû island. He was a son of empress Jingu, who being pregnant with him supposedly conquered Korea. Perhaps this is why he is worshipped as a deity of warriors, because he didn't have any wars during his lifetime. His cult started some years after his death, when he manifested himself in blood curdling circumstances in a place called Usa on Kyûshû. Shintô deities appear to the worshippers like Our Lady to Catholics. Ôjin appeared in Usa as a child and said “my name is Eight Banners”, which is Hachiman in Japanese. A huge sanctuary was built on the spot of the manifestation. This sanctuary later became famous for its miracles. Hachiman is considered a protector of the bushi and has thousands of sanctuaries all over Japan. One of the biggest is, of course, in Kamakura.

EMPEROR'S COURTIER

Japanese deities not only appear in extraordinary circumstances, they can also take a normal human body. For example Sugawara Michizane, a poet and emperor's courtier of Heian times, was actually a god, which his fellow courtiers realised when it was too late. He was unfairly sent to Kyûshû and died there, but after his death calamities fell on the court in Kyôto. For example a palace went up in smoke and when it was rebuilt – woodworms gnawed a poem of the dead poet on a pillar. To remedy it, the emperor built a sanctuary for him, called Kitano Temmangu, and another one in the place of his death on Kyûshû. This helped. Ever since Michizane is worshipped as a god named Tenjin. He is popular as a protector of poets and calligraphers. There are many of his sanctuaries throughout Japan, they all are called Temmangu.

STATE PROPAGANDA

Santuary in Nikkô is not only a masterpiece of architecture and sculpture, it is a masterpiece of state propaganda. Shôgun Tokugawa Iemitsu decided that his grandfather, Tokugawa Ieyasu, was an incarnation of a god. After all he has proved his divine political talents. So a sanctuary for him was built in Nikkô and in every place where Tokugawas lived.

LITTLE FIELDS OF RICE

The divine protector of the country in a form of ordinary human being is of course tennô, or emperor. He is supposed to celebrate a number of rituals to make sure prosperity does not leave the country. For example he is supposed to cultivate two little fields of rice, so the country has good crop. He has to offer the rice he has grown to gods. And every year on palace grounds a house of unbarked timber is erected; inside that house the tennô performs rituals so secret that ordinary mortals are not supposed to know they exist.

INACCEPTABLE INDISCRETION

For Europeans it is very difficult to understand Shintô. The ceremonies seem to be religious, but without and salvation theory or moral code – is it really a religion? The ancient book relating old myths is really a chronicle. It does say what some deities did in the beginnings of time, but other deities are not even mentioned there. There are a few thousands deities and probably a small theological treatise would be enough to show that all deities are emanations of The One, The Most High. The chronicle Kôjiki starts with a statements that in the beginning a deity called Amenominaknushi created himself out of nothing and hid himself soon after. A European does not understand this, but it is obvious for the Japanese: Shintô does not have theology. All speculation about the nature of deities is considered unacceptable indiscretion. Shintô is passed on from one generation to another only as a ritual.

FEAST WITH GODS

Visitors from outside Japan are struck by cleanliness of sanctuaries. Keeping them clean is one of the key elements of the ritual. All sanctuaries are cleaned every day and every day new offerings are put on the altar. Many things can be used as offerings: food, flowers, twigs of sacred sakaki tree, paper, clear water, rice wine. Big sanctuaries have priests responsible for cleanliness, smaller ones are looked after by lay people who live nearby. Cleanliness and purification often appear in Shintô rituals. A believer should appear before a deity “with a pure heart”, so before going to a sanctuary a purification ritual is performed. Some people before visiting a sanctuary fast from the morning and take a ritual bath. Sometimes it is no more than rinsing a mouth and washing hands, for this purpose a water container is placed on a path leading to a sanctuary. Ladles are also placed on it, so it is easier to wash one's hands. Nobody is obliged to visit a sanctuary regularly, people go there only when they feel a need. Often a purpose of a visit is a silent prayer with folded palms, ended with a loud clap, deep respectful bow and throwing a coin to a money box. One can also leave a votive figure or plaque bought in a sanctuary shop. Only in especially important situations – like a wedding, or a birth of a child, or buying a new car – a priest is asked to conduct a ceremony. The priest knows prayers in old Japanese, he also knows what gestures should be made. Usually any bigger ritual ends with naorai, or “feast with gods”. In this ritual participants gather in front of the most holy building and everybody sips from a bowl of rice wine that has previously been offered to the god of the sanctuary. The believers expect unspecified protection, but they should not ask a deity for a particular outcome of a particular situation. Prayers in one's own intention are considered egoist, egoism is a blemish, a faithful should come to the sanctuary with pure heart.

TOTAL DARKNESS

In big sanctuaries every year there is a matsuri, a big festival, and every sanctuary has its own date. Priests prepare themselves for this, in some sanctuaries they fast for a week or longer. The most important element of a matsuri is reisai, a very formal ceremony of giving offerings with the door of the most holy building open, otherwise this door is never opened. More visible part is a procession of a sacred palanquin called mikoshi through the streets, or sometimes even outside a town. A visible sign of the presence of the deity is put into this palanquin. Another accompanying ceremony is kagura, sacred dances illustrating old myths, performed by miko, young ladies of the parish especially prepared for this role. The dances are performed to the accompaniment of ancient gagaku music. However, the most important event, performed only once in the history of every sanctuary, is the ceremony of transubstantiation, when an object especially made for the purpose becomes shintai, or the body of god. This ceremony is always performed at midnight, always in total darkness, not only lights of the sanctuary are to be off, but in the houses around as well. From this moment only the highest priests can touch or even look at the Body of God. It is placed in the holiest building (called honden) and only in exceptional circumstances taken out. It is thanks to this ceremony that the sanctuary becomes a House of God.

RED TROUSERS

Functions of a priest are only performing elaborated rituals correctly and saying prayers in old Japanese. It is a hereditary position, in some sanctuaries dynasties of priests go back many centuries. In general a Shintô priest is called kannushi, but a main priest of a sanctuary can have helpers called negi. Girls of the parish until they are married can be a miko, whose function is to perform the kagura dances and to assist in bigger ceremonies. Priests during ceremonies wear funny attires that appear to be of Heian times, whereas miko wear white blouses and red trousers.

BODY OF GOD

Shintô sanctuaries, called in Japanese miya, jinja, jingu or taisha, are of different sizes, from roadside chapels to huge complexes. They differ by the number and size of buildings, all however (if you exclude roadside chapels) have five necessary elements: torii, sandô, temizuya, gohei and shintai. Torii is a characteristic gate meaning that there is a sanctuary behind it. It is usually (not always) painted red and sometimes there is quite a lot of them leading to one sanctuary. Sandô is the path on which a believer approaches in silence. It is usually of white gravel and has a bend at one point, as approaching a deity in a straight line would mean lack of respect. Temizuya is a water container, usually made of stone, to ritually wash hands and mouth; normally a bamboo ladle lies on the top. Gohei is a wooden stand with paper folded into a characteristic zigzag; it stands in front of the holiest building and is the sign of divine presence. Shintai is the most important thing in any sanctuary, it is an object in whose form the deity is present. It is sometimes called a relic, but really it is more like a Catholic host, which (after transubstantiation) is also a Body of God. Shintai is so holy that normally nobody can even see it, only in special circumstances priests can approach it. Various objects can become shintai, it can be a brass mirror or an ancient double-edged sword. It could be a sculpture, although in such case it can never be shown. Whatever the case, most of the time it is hidden in a building called (if there are more buildings) honden.

STRAW ROPE

There are more buildings in big sanctuaries as a rule. The most important of them are heiden, where the priests conduct their ceremonies, haiden, or an oratory for the faithful, sometimes there is also a kaguraden, where the sacred dances are performed. Gohei is the most important sign of the divine presence, but sometimes there are others, like shimenawa, or a straw rope hanged from the eaves of the shrine, or around a sacred tree, or between sacred rocks. It may also be a brass mirror, which if it is exposed, it certainly is not shintai.

Fifty rubai'yat (poems of Rumi cycle)

 

I never tried to publish the English versions of the rubaiyat, they were a kind of by-product of my work on a Polish translation. However, I sometimes read them at poetry meetings, for example at London's Poetry Café. As it happened, at one of those meetings a publisher was present, Isabel del Rio, owner of "Friends of Alice" publishing house. She liked them enough to suggest that they may be published in a book. Which happened and the book can now be purchased at Amazon.

At one point, long before the book was published, my Persian friend Ziba introduced me to a calligrapher named Morteza. He himself was a dervish, although not of the same order as Maulana Rumi. When I had a proposition to publish my collection of translations, I asked Morteza to illustrate it with his calligraphy. So here it is, the calligraphy in the style called nastaliq, although Morteza sometimes makes modern impression of that.

708.

I glimpsed your face and my sadness is gone;

To your face I am faithful, all others are gone.

I asked my heart about its desire,

But it didn’t have any, all my desires were gone.

708

دیدم رخت از غم سر موییم نماند

جز بندگی ی روی تو روییم نماند

با دل گفتم که آرزویی در خواه

دل گفت که هیچ آرزویی م نماند

1798.

You want goodness, but goodness is not what you bring,

If you’re creating evil, evil you will meet.

The compassion of God cannot change much here:

If you are sowing barley, you will not reap wheat.

1798

بد می‌کنی و نیک طمع می‌داری

هم بد باشد سزای بدکرداری

با این که خداوند کریم و است و رحیم

گندم ندهد بار چو جو می‌کاری

The book "Fifty Rubai'yat" can be purchased at Amazon

Kuliyat-e Divan-e Shams (poems of Rumi cycle)

 

I was proud of myself not only because I found "Kuliyat-e Divan-e Shams" without help, but also because the author of "Kuliyat" was not Rumi, but ostensibly one Jalaluddin Balkhi (and I knew it was the same person).

The book was published in Iran and the Iranians don't like to call him Rumi. The name "Rumi" suggests that he came from Rum, which is a Persian name for Anatolia, then newly conquered by Turks. So this name suggests that he was somehow Turkish (which is what the Turks claim). But of course Rumi wrote in Persian, he is considered one of the greatest poets of that language; how could he be a Turk? However, Rumi was born in Balkh, which now is in Afghanistan but at least it is a Pesrian-speaking town. Let's call him Balkhi, then.

"Kuliyat" in this context means something like "complete", so the whole title would be "Complete Divan-e Shams". It is a collection of ghazals and rubaiyat which are in an alphabetical order and numbered. Alphabetical order, but counting letter from the end of the rhyme (which in most cases is the same word repeated three or four times).

Here I am presenting two rubaiyat with the same rhyme مترس matars, which means "fear not", although I decided to translate it into two different phrases.

Rubaiyat often had an extra word ending each line, often separate from the phrase that each line was, called redif. I am presenting here one rubai with a redif بیا biya (which I translated into a phrase "come to us")

977.

This world is being born, you don’t need to worry.

What comes will go away, you don’t need to worry.

Treat as a precious treasure every breath of life;

Forget the past, about the future you don’t need to worry.

977

از حادثه ی جهان زاینده مترس

وز هرچه رسد چو نیست پاینده مترس

این یکدم عمر را غنیمت می دان

از رفته میندیش وز آینده مترس

984.

Go forward on our path and have no fear,

Make sure you stay on the path and have no fear.

Even if the whole world wants you to die,

Don’t lose faith, stay with us and have no fear.

984

رو در صف بندگان ما باش و مترس

خاک در آسمان ما باش و مترس

گر جمله ی خلق قصد جان تو کنند

دل تنگ مکن از آن ما باش و مترس

15.

You who are as bright as the sun - come to us.

Without you leaves fall down from trees - come to us.

The world without you is covered in dust - come to us.

Meetings of friends are frosty without you - come to us.

15

ای آنکه چو آفتاب فرد است بیا

بیرون تو برگ و باغ زرد است بیا

عالم بی‌تو غبار و گرد است بیا

این مجلس عیش بی‌تو سرد است بیا

Unseen Rain (poems of Rumi cycle)

 Many years ago, when Rumi was not as well known as he is now, I went to a bookshop in London and found a book of poems titled "Unseen Rain". It was translated from Persian into open verse, or rather into bits of prose, as is often done in English in recent years, but nevertheless it made an impression on me. I thought I would like to read these poems in their original language one day. So I started to learn Persian.

Some years later, with some knowledge of Persian already, I went to another bookshop in London, one that only sold books in Arabic and Persian. I went to the Persian section and found there a book titled "Kuliyat-e Divan-e Shams-e Tabrizi", a large collection of ghazals and ruba'iyat of Rumi. I was very proud of myself that I could find it without anybody's help. However, my knowledge of Persian was not enough to translate these poems into Polish as I intended.

Still some years later I met somebody who helped me do just that. They were Persian-speaking poets Bashir from Afghanistan and Ziba from Iran. They explained the original so I could understand it and produce a Polish version. We communicated in English and by force some English versions also appeared.

All this exercise proved that I was right - one has to read these poems in their original language to really appreciate them. There is an unearthly rhythm in them, something like Bob Marley's reggae. Some Persian people even say that one can get drunk on Rumi. I tried to produce something approximate in English. I present some of them here. I also present the same poems as they appear in the "Unseen Rain". By no means I claim my versions are better, or anything like that. They are just my versions, that's all. I also present here the original Persian version, just in case any reader knows that language.  

67.

(my version)
I used to boast that I am the lord of myself;
Used to complain that I’m a slave of myself.
This is past, now I do not trust myself.
I understand: I don’t understand myself.

("Unseen Rain" version)

I thought I had self-control
so I regretted times I didn't.
With that considering over, the one thing I know
is I don't know who I am. 

(original)

گه می‌گفتم که من امیرم خود را

گه ناله‌ کنان که من اسیرم خود را

آن رفت و از این پس نپذیرم خود را

بگرفتم این که من نگیرم خود را

The rhyme (AAAA) is  خود را khod ra (of myself)

152

(my version)

A love without a lover – there is no better,

It’s like work without profit – there is no better.

You should stop being clever, forget all your cunning:

This is the real cunning – there is no better.

("Unseen Rain" version)

No better love than love with no object,

no more satysfying work than work with no purpose. 

If you could give up tricks and cleverness,

that would be the cleverest trick!

(original)

از بی‌یاری ظریف تر یاری نیست

وز بی‌کاری لطیف تر کاری نیست

هرکس که ز عیاری و حیله ببرید

والله که چو او زیرک و عیاری نیست

The rhyme here (AABA) is  نیست nist (is not)

681.

(my version)

In the shambles of love the best are being killed,

The bad mannered and disfigured are not being killed.

Don’t be afraid of death if you’re a true lover;

Only walking cadavers are scared of being killed.

("Unseen Rain" version)

In the shambles of love they kill only the best, 

none of the weak or deformed. 

Don't run away from this dying. 

Whoever is not killed for love is carrion.

(original)

در مطبخ عشق جز نکو را نکشند 

روبه صفتان زشت خو را نکشند

 گر عاشق صادقی ز مردن مگریز

 مردار بود هر آن که او را نکشند

The rhyme here (AABA) is  نکشند  nakoshand (they do not kill)

For whom did Jan Kochanowski write? (poetry from Poland cycle)

 

Jan Kochanowski (pronounce Yan Ko-hanofskee) (1530-1584) is the best known poet of the Polish Renaissance. A son of a noble family affluent enough to send him to the best universities, first to Cracow, later to Padua in Italy. Padua at that time was one of the best European universities, a centre of humanism, Kochanowski would meet there the best minds of the continent. After he returned to Poland he had a career in administration, for some time he was a secretary to king Sigismund Augustus. After the king’s death he retired from official duties and lived in his manor in a village called Czarnolas.

The Kingdom of Poland was at the hight of its power at that time. It was one of the great powers of Europe, the one that stopped the expansion of the Ottoman empire. Consequently in Kochanowski’s poetry there are no worries about the independence of the motherland, so typical of the later Polish poetry. On the other hand it seems that Kochanowski aimed at including Polish poetry in the broader European stream. He also wrote in Latin, which in his time would gain him educated readers in other countries. When he wrote in Polish, he seemed to write in a style not dissimilar from Horace, albeit in a different language. Also important is the fact that he wrote his poems so they could be published in books; it seems obvious today, but at the time a printed book was a new technology, the printing press having only been invented. Which meant of course that even when he wrote in Polish, he wrote for the educated, at least enough to read a book.

Below an example of a poem not dissimilar from Horace, albeit written originally in Polish.

SONG 5 (of the First Book of Songs)

He who has his bread

All that one can need

Does not need to worry about high incomes

About villages, towns and walled castles.

A lord is someone (this is what I say)

Who is satisfied with whatever he has.

Whoever seeks more, shows himself

That in his own opinion he is still inferior.

Great riches has gained

Who has got rid of greed.

It is more difficult than to conquer Turks

Or to make fierce Tartars pay tribute.

The king of Macedon

Won in a short time,

A big chunk of the world, but still he thought

That it won't be enough to have the whole world.

What's the use of armour

Or temporal power?

Gold is no medicine for your heart.

It won't drive worries away from your head.

Mrs. Death is nasty

Grabs by their throats

Both lowly servants and their rich lords

Won't give you time to pay all you owe.

Most people (I think),

Worry about one thing:

How to acquire more silver and gold.

A glutton will never have enough to eat.

It will all stay here

When you are deceased

And somebody else's house will decorate

All that you hoarded here with such greed.

This supposed safe house

One day will fall apart

And the wine that today you worry so much about

Will be given to horses by your own grandchild.

If you would like to read these poems (and some more) on paper, 

You can get a printout of my book "POLISH INSPIRATIONS"

O which nationality was Adam Mickiewicz? (poetry from Poland cycle)

 

Adam Mickiewicz (pron. Adam Meetzkyevich) (1798-1855) was born in a small town called Nowogrodek (or Navahrudak), which is in today's Belarus. The very beginning of his greatest poem start with the words: "Lithuania, my motherland..." These very words are written, however, in Polish, as are all his poems. For which reason he is considered a Polish poet. Which may well sound strange to an English speaker; after all no Irishman would call himself English because he writes poems the English language. In fact Mickiewicz himself  considered himself to be a Polish-speaking Lithuanian (the kingdom that usually is called Polish was actually the United Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania). Born only a few years after Poland lost its independence, conquered by Russia, Germany and Austria, Mickiewicz was the leading poet that encouraged his countrymen to struggle to regain it. He was born in Nowogrodek, studied in Vilnius (today the capital of Lithuania), travelled in Russia, emigrated to France, died in Turkey, he actually has never been to Poland proper. In France he taught Slavonic Literature at Sorbonne and was a member of Academie Francaise. In Turkey he tried to organise a Polish legion that would fight against Russia during the Crimean war.

Throughout the 19^th century many Polish poets wrote poems that would help to keep the fighting spirit, so one day the independence might be regained. Mickiewicz is the best known of those poets. Of course this was not the only subject of his poetry. His best work, entitled “Pan Tadeusz” is a masterpiece unique in the whole European literature. It is a multi-plot novel written entirely in beautiful and majestic verse. Set in a manor in rural Lithuania, it has a romantic plot as well as a fast action plot, and a dark past of one of the main characters being slowly discovered. Of course there is also a fight between Russians and Poles, which in the book the Poles win.

I am publishing this at the time of war between Russia and Ukraine. I just read the "Ordon's Rampart" again and it struck me as very up to date, except that the name of "Ordon" (a name of a Polish officer) could be substituted for "Ukraine". The second fragment of Ordon's Rampart" could be a perfect description of one Mr. Putin.

However, Mickiewicz was not always political. The other poem, "Dad's homecoming", is an example of his non-political poetry.

ORDON'S RAMPART

We weren't told to shoot; I stepped on a gun

And looked at the field – 200 cannons thundered.

Rows of Russian artillery are in lines

Spread far and wide, like shores of a sea.

I saw their captain – he came, signalled with his sword

And like a bird he closed a wing of his army.

From under that wing infantry spills out

In long and grey columns, like a torrent of mud

Sprinkled with flashing bayonets; like vultures

The black banners lead those columns to their deaths.

Against them stands a white, narrow, sharp bastion

Like a rock cutting through the sea – Ordon's rampart.

It only had six guns, all flashing and smoking

And an angry mouth won't say as many words

A despairing soul wont change it's mood as quickly

As those guns shot cannonballs, bombs and grenades.

Look, there a grenade plunges into the middle of a column

Like a lava into the waves of the sea – it covers the column with smoke

The grenade explodes in a cloud of smoke, the column flies to the sky

And a great clearing shines among the lines.

(...)

Where is the king, who sends those crowds to the slaughter?

Does he share their courage? Does he risk his life?

No, he sits 500 miles away on his throne.

A great king, the autocrat of a half of the world.

He frowns – a thousand prisoners are sent to Siberia.

Puts a signature – a thousand mothers cry over graves of their children.

He nods – whips are cracked from Niemen to Khiva.

O strongman, powerful as God, malevolent as the devil

When the Turks beyond the Balkans are scared of your guns

When the envoy from Paris licks your feet

Warsaw alone laughs at you omnipotence

She lifts her hand against you to take down the crown

The crown of king Casimir and of king Boleslaus

Because you have stolen it and stained it with blood, you son of a Russian...

DAD'S HOMECOMING (Powrot taty)

Come here children, come all together

Out of town by the pole on the hill.

Let's kneel there before a holy icon

And piously say a prayer.

Your dad is not coming and I wait for him

Each morning and evening, in tears and fear.

Rivers burst their banks, forests are full of wild animals

And roads are full of brigands.

When the children hear this, they run all together

Out of town by the pole on the hill.

There they kneel before the holy icon

And they start the prayer.

They kiss the ground, then: „In the Name of the Father

The Son and the Holy Spirit.

Be praised, Most Holy Trinity

Now and forever, Amen.”

Then „Our Father...” and „Hail Mary” and the Creed,

The Ten Commandments and more

And when they have finished the set prayers

They take a book prom a pocket.

And the litany to the Holy Virgin

The eldest brother sings, and with him

„O Holy Mother” all the children sing

„Protect, protect our father”.

Creaking wheels of carts suddenly are heard

Familiar carts can be seen.

The children jump, shout as loud as they can:

“It's our dad, he is coming!”

The merchant saw them, shed tears of happiness

Jumped to the ground from his cart.

“How are you all, what are news from home?

Did you long for your dad?”

“Is your mum well? Your auntie? Everybody else?

Here are raisins in the basket.”

This one is talking and that one is talking

Lots of happiness and noise.

“Go” the merchant commands his servants,

“I will walk to the town with the children”

Suddenly robbers appear all around.

There is twelve of them.

They have long beards, long and twisted whiskers

Wild eyes, dirty garments.

Knives behind their belts, a sword flashes by the side

A huge mace held in a hand.

The children cry, they cling to their father

They hide under his mantle.

The servants tremble, the masters face is pale

His shaking hands he lifts to the robbers.

“Take all the carts with all the goods with them

But let us walk away.

Don't make the little children orphans

Don't make a young wife a widow.”

The brigands don;'t listen, one leads away horses,

Another shouts: “Where is the money!”

And grabs the enormous mace,

Another threatens the servants with a sword.

Suddenly a senior brigand shouts “Stop it!”

And drives away the gang.

He lets go the father and children

and says: “Go without fear”

The merchant thanks, but the robber says:

“Don't thank me, I tell you honestly.

I'd be the first to crack your head with a mace

If not for the children's prayers.”

“It is because of the children I am letting you go

Thanks to them you are alive and well.

You can thank them for what has happened

And I will tell you why.

“Long ago we heard that a merchant will pass this way

So I and my companions

Here outside the town, by a pole on a hill

Were sitting in an ambush.”

“Today I came and looking through bushes

I saw them praying to God.

I heard them, at first it made me laugh

But then my heart started trembling.”

“I heard them and I remembered my own home

Suddenly I dropped my mace.

I also have a wife, and with my wife

There is my little son.”

“O merchant, go to the town, I will go to the woods.

You, children, sometimes come to this hill

And for my soul

Sometimes say a prayer.”

If you would like to read these poems (and some more) on paper, 

You can get a printout of my book "POLISH INSPIRATIONS"