The Song For The Teacher

Dedicated to my teacher of English - Maroš Mitrík

There is the world for us,

We were born to rejoice,

to fly towards the Sun,

to leap in the grassy leas.

Thirsty waves are waving to touch the moon;

mild birches are swinging to please a breeze.

A virgin with a tiara is awaiting her holy one;

wisdom is seeking the eager.

A good teacher is more valuable than gold,

The Teacher is my pearl and pride,

a good teacher is a gift from the gods,

profuse thanksgivings I shall shout forever,

a good teacher is the morning star,

My Teacher illuminates my paths,

a good teacher is your strength,

The Teacher gave me reasons to rise from dust,

a good teacher is a witness to the miracle,

My Teacher is a magic sage,

a good teacher worships truth,

The Astonishing Teacher presents me with His heart.

a good teacher fears for his own,

My Teacher would not let me go astray.

We were conceived yesterday,

yet ere tomorrow we'll be gone,

so don't wait till the amber twilight,

before your soul's lost in the ebony firmament,

lest the fervent zeal is quenched,

not later than your body is covered by the velvet demise,

may you dance with joy,

To you I will play The Song For The Teacher,

may your tears turn into laughter,

then your life will blossom again.

I have been in your vineyard -

how the fruit of your labour is sweet!

Drink of the vine and be slaked!

May your delight never be stilled!

Listen to me, My Dear Teacher!

Are you able to count all the stars?

We admire the same affection,

sharing this tremendous wonder.

Can you behold the end of the Universe?

You have taught me how to advance:

- to love improvement more than complacency.

How can it be that sagacity is so thrilling?

Sometimes nights are freezing,

mysterious questions hanging in the empty room,

one needs a little fervent warmth,

a poor man yearns for the attraction of beauty,

pleading for the forgotten gratitude,

when one feels like a dusty book,

the last embers are to fall asleep forever,

dreary reveries, bleak tears!

Scared of the unknown!

Haunted by the black tempestbow,

Being on the verge of collapse

in fear of one's life.

Yet, My Teacher, you are mine!

Remember this song when you are blue!

Then let your sorrow disappear!

May you always know when I am away,

that I am a man of relish.

If you had done nothing,

at least you made one rose bloom,

you melted one icy spring.

Your seeds flower in the permafrost,

your petals cast out Death from deserts,

in your presence a lion himself is tame,

the whole welkin savours your great name.

You are My Teacher!

Never will you be someone else for me,

you are a potter making eagles

that hover over the Sun's gleam.

The Teacher said to My Teacher:

'Teach Him whom I'll show you.'

Hades came, but one had already been dead,

yet My Teacher descended and sang.

His voice was like many waters,

His eyes were the brightest flames,

stones cried out and one got up yelling:

'Rabboni dwells in my exultation!'

Forever retain that moment,

when after dawn did I arrive,

dressed in the ragged garment,

hoping for the better life.

Sneaking out being taciturn,

intending to sojourn,

my dear family I had left,

I'd been blindly unbereft.

It wasn't as I had expected,

doing wrong you can't be happy,

the kinship I felt sorry to have rejected,

sometimes one's ideas are scrappy.

Always a man has to learn,

and for experience to yearn,

one gains the strength from every stumble,

the one who craves the truth being humble.

When my times were very rough,

like a shipwreck I was sunk,

if the life one had been to slough,

from the breath one would have slunk.

Yet, then I saw

the life's jigsaw

held by God,

God's my hope!

I must say it right,

you are a godsend

that helped me in the fight

my soul to defend.

When I was run out

singing the elegy,

You gave me energy

slewing my blackout.

I will be carrying your message in my mind,

deep in the chest where throbs are keeping me alive,

where joys grow like the ocean waves,

from where tears gush out.

May all the eyes behold the beautiful world,

may every tongue drink of that water,

so that every being could see why we are.

Here we live and here we'll die,

for the things that no man can buy,

as wisdom is not measured by the time,

so I'd like to thank you from my heart,

never will my gratitude gasp the last chime,

do not be sad, it is not the end but the start.