Poetry: Tovy Harhur
Translation: Natalja Zilke
Video: Zlatan Filipović
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The Lion of God is the result of a collaboration between a poet and a video artist who – each from the perspective of their respective genres – developed the theme of parenthood. A poetic text unfolds both vertically and horizontally. A vertical reading introduces female, male, and the child’s principles, respectively. A horizontal reading presents a dialog, which expresses the union of female and male principles being realized in the process of conception. Therefore, the poem creates a multidimensional verbal space, in which male and female principles are presented vocally and in which the unvoiced child’s principle is presented visually as a part of the video. The multidimensional character of this work gathers momentum through trilingual representation: German voice of the mother, Russian voice of the father and English unborn voice of the child.

text

I dreamed about Lilith
appearing on the shore of the Red sea.
At dawn, my shield –
under the head tired of long trips –
copper shield
became saturated with fire of the rising sun.
The scorched temples will shed
the stannum of dreams.

two aspirations
two desires
two paths endlessly converging
when two spiritual aspirations
concatenate
with their sensual desires
when they reach
the culmination of their impulse
when the piercing intellectual force
penetrates explosive flash of emotions
it creates a very field of
concentrated energy
such a comprehensive will
to incarnate impetuous desire
that the pure light is shed into it
i am the vessel that assembles the light
i am the one
who connects the supreme with the earthy
i am the lion of god

Look, the moon has risen in my body.
Soft wave of light flows in my limbs.
Cuddle up to me, my beloved one!
I satiate you with moonlit breeze.
I soothe your rage,
your agitation
I tell you about the reasons of what
cannot be expressed in words,
about the paths of light
that impregnates me.
I impregnate you
with this light.

I’ve seen myself in front of you –
the woman of dreams
sheltering herself with sincerity
like primordial nudity.
The woman of dreams
exhaling faith
and joy
of primordial motherhood.
You’re the woman.
You replace
dreams.
You’re the woman
who will give birth
to my child.

i’ve seen them
lying in the embryo pose
two graces
one was severe – the other was loving
their fatigue was rich with such a trusting beauty
with such a penetrating radiation
i’ve seen them at once
they were so unfamiliar
but so related
as if they’ve been approximating each other
all their life
and finally met
and lied down to rest
and merged
i’ve recognized them at once
and entered
her dreams

Hush, coddle up to me!
I tell you about the birth,
about a little boy looking at us.
He stands at some distance with a cloak
on his right hand –
white cloak with silver fibers.
Close your eyes, my beloved one!
You’ll see him
approaching us –
he grows, sprouts up into me
like the moonlight grows
into air.
You’ll see him
sprouting up into me,
filling me up,
giving himself up – to you.

I gathered copper coated with stannum of dreams,
reinforced it with alloy of lead poetry,
and forged a thin hoop from an iron serpent
to make a bracelet for your right hand.

his movements are a flashing sword
blade – mercury
air merged with earth
in the moonlight
he is air
earth she is
lulling gaia
who soothes chaos
and grants life
(the stars are best seen from the depths of earth)
willful gaia
squeezing the time
to give birth to the divine lion
they merged into sensual imminence
whether they are to be doused in soothing water
or scorched by purifying fire
the fire blazed away
the sun rose

Coddle up to me, my only one!
I need your smell
piercing me,
gray light of your eyes.
Enter me,
give me your power.
Together we’ll
overcome the chimeras,
together we’ll
depersonalize the time,
we’ll become omnipotent.
Together we’ll become the one.

my father
holds the ancient law
the right hand of my mother
is embraced with four metal bracelet
i came to this world
with a firm tread of a lion
to reveal the divine presence
i am the lion of god