The Kingdom

they taught us
to love our enemies
even if they hit our faces
with hate

and they said there was no God
in the sacred groves
in the stones and trees
in snappy rivers
and the bright face of the Sun
that we bowed before idols

they despised our love to the land
they said that the fatherland
was not the ancestral glory
our forefathers' care for the soil
their warfare pains
that the Slavic kingdom
was not of this world

they also said
that the time was coming
when the son would oppose his father
the daughter - her mother

so they said

they told us to kneel
and sprinkle our heads with ashes
they persuaded
that we were this dust ourselves

many of us believed

broken and lost
kneeling in muggy temples
made of stone
praying
to the images and sculptures
to a dead god
on a solar cross

no empire
is eternal

eternal is only
our memory

8th of July 2010