I hate you for your weakness,
your strong arm and tearful face
and your dark, black destiny,
why always shrouded in black?
Spurning friends, not seeing foes,
yielding to your destroyer,
languidly awaiting Fate,
pockets empty, mind still closed.
But I still love you, fixed like
a diamond to my torn dreams;
sleeping and waking you will
always be close to my heart.
My lips burn, my head reels from
this poison that now seems sweet.
Thus it is by Nature's law:
You are Mother, I am Son!
მძულხარ – მიყვარხარ
მძულხარ იმიტომ, უძლური რად ხარ
ძლიერი მკლავით, მტირალი სახით
და შენი ბედი, ბედი შავბედი
რად შემოსილა სულ მუდამ შავით?
მოკეთის მგმობა და მტრის ვერ მწნობო,
შენ დამღუპავთან მისული ზავით,
ბედის მომლოდნევ გვერძე წოლითა,
ცარელ ჯიბით და ბნელის თავით.
მაინც მიყვარხარ, ჩემს წყლულს ოცნებას
ზედ აკერიხარ ალმასის ღილად;
ვერ დაგივიწყე, გულს არ ჰშორდები,
მღვიძარა ვარ, თუ მივიქცე ძილად.
სამსალა პირს მწვავს, გუნებას მირევს,
ბოლოს კი ისევ მეჩვენა ტკბილად.
ესეც წესია ალბათ ბუნების:
შენ დედა თუ ხარ, გეკუთვნი შვილად!
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Comments
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I want to thank Nakash for posting his comment on May 5, 2006. This one comment opened up the true meaning of the poet and this sample of his work. I literally searched the Internet to learn more about Pshavela, and in the process I learned quite a bit. There is a book that has received excellent reviews, The Literature of Georgia: A History written by Donald Rayfield, Oxford:Clarendon Press, 1994. Part 4 of the book is committed to the examination of Vazga-Pshavela.
This poem made me think of a scene in the movie Blood Diamond--the "commander" grabs a handful of dirt and states (paraphrasing) that one will never leave the land because its soil is in them. Also, I was thinking of Wang Lung from the novel The Good Earth--the land was his passion. In some ways, this passion, understanding of what country maens to the writer is key. Pshavela states that something at this time in his country's struggles made it "always shrouded in black". Georgia, a land invaded, a place of civil unrest, yet so rooted in history, pride...that is "poison that now seems sweet." Powerful. Motherland. One's place on this orb we know as Earth. That we could all feel this type of passion about our own country. The lines "but I still love you, fixed like a diamond to my torn dreams" is filled with an image of pure beauty. This love,as a diamond, still shines through all the disappointments. -
Well, as far as I am Georgian myself I'd like to explain that this poem is dedicated to poet's motherland and not to his mother
. I think it will be easier to understand poet's love/hate feelings and point of view bearing this in mind .
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A very interesting view of his mother presented in this piece.
It is a different view of what we usually hear about the parents of the older and great authors. But ti is said that in Georgia, all writers are respected even more than politicians because they always speak the truth.
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