Nazarii A. Nazarov holds a PhD in linguistics, and lives and works in Kyiv, Ukraine. His poems have appeared in national anthologies in Ukraine (both in Ukrainian and in French translation). Previously published collections include Escape from Babylon (2006), Torch Bearer (2009), and translation collections Gardens of Adonis: Minor Anthology of World Poetry (2015, translations from Modern and Ancient Greek, Persian etc.), and Cavafy: Poems (2016, from Modern Greek).
Hikayat
The following poems are based on the mythologized biography of Alexander the Great, whose story was retold all over the Eurasia. The hero’s name, as well as the content, was constantly changing from one version to another. After his death, Alexander kept on traveling – but now only as a name, as a sound, as wind… So, in the following lines, Asian images are mingled with European.
I
And then came Rum
we offered them
jade and jasper
and oil to wash
their bodies of alabaster
they as the conquerors should do
took everything
with silent gestures
of acceptance
and watered their
horses mules and elephants
with the sacred water
of the Ganga
where the lust of our ancestors
was mingled
with disaster
II
Raja Iskander
sitting on his white elephant
gave a wink to our
astonished throng
we threw flowers
at his cortege
while a harpsichord was playing
behind the screen
of dalang
Notes
Hikayat – a Malaysian epic genre
Rum – i.e. “the Greeks”
Raja Iskander – the form in which Alexander’s name was used in Arabic and other Asian sources