Chichikov

WOLVES 
By Pavel Chichikov

When you run with the wolves

You must howl with the wolves

Or they will know you are not one of them

And when they know you are not a wolf

They will fix their yellow eyes on you

And bare their yellow fangs

When you hunt with the wolves

You must eat what they eat

And be pitiless as they are pitiless

You must disown your human form

And your human heart

And your human spirit

They will give you instead

The heart of a wolf

And the soul of a wolf

When you run with the wolves

You will die as a wolf

And they will howl twice and go on

Your carcass will lie on the ground

And the dogs will tear it

As once they ripped at Jezebel

Or be a lamb instead

The one Christ ate at the Last Supper

With a dish of bitter herbs

The lamb He ate with unleavened bread

That became His flesh
Washed down with blood 

THIS WORLD OF DREAMS 
By Pavel Chichikov

My Lord, why do You take Your time?

The peace of these old hills

Is like the prospect of the peaceful Kingdom

You wear them out by rain and frost

And my old life by now

Would not so much of precious rainfall cost

My child, how can immortal souls compare

These ridges with the light I give

Which is alive, opposing and aware?

Hills of granite rise and fall supine

Graze on rain

They are the chattels I call Mine

For you, My child, the task I set

Has been a deeper metaphor

Love’s inevitable failure, therefore your regret

But you are My aroused topography

And ages are to come

When you will walk with Me

We will follow riverbeds and streams

Climb the sleeping hills 
Behold this world I made of waking dreams



The Poetry of Pavel Chichikov