Nazarii A. Nazarov holds a PhD in linguistics, and lives and works in Kyiv, Ukraine. His poems have appeared in national anthologies in Ukraine (both in Ukrainian and in French translation). Previously published collections include Escape from Babylon (2006), Torch Bearer (2009), and translation collections Gardens of Adonis: Minor Anthology of World Poetry (2015, translations from Modern and Ancient Greek, Persian etc.), and Cavafy: Poems (2016, from Modern Greek).
Sima Qian
Half an astronomer
half a priest
he recorded the stories he had heard
all over the Empire
For there have been men
of dignity and honor
of strength and prowess
of mind and soul
that could have been forgotten
if not him
And there were bamboo planks in temples
silken books in tombs
half erased characters on stone
that told about men and women
bad omens stars
unicorns and dragons
phoenixes and turtles
that
If I don’t remember
people will forget
A true historian loves nobody
believes nothing
knows everything
In the bamboo wood
he walks like a tiger
he hides like a deer
An ink drop from his brush
bespeaks a lot
for history cries in ink
over the people who repeat it
like a strange court rite
that everybody follows
just out of habit
Forgotten hidden or rewritten
his history will remain what it
was meant to be
A city where all ages live
A country where all people go
Silence that contains all