Protest Poetry #3: “Where do you lie, faithful love for our people?”

Bilingual poetry in support of the protests in Bulgaria. English translation is mine.

Where do you lie, faithful love for our people?

Where do you lie, faithful love for our people
Where do you gleam, spark of patriotism?
O grow to feed a mighty flame
And stoke a blazing fire today
In our young people’s beating hearts
to roam the woods and take up arms.

Protest Poetry #2: “You cannot quench what’s not for quenching”

Bilingual poetry in support of the protests in Bulgaria. English version from Anthology of Bulgarian Poetry (translated by Peter Tempest)

You cannot quench what’s not for quenching

We’re glad when on a sunny day
The golden glowing sun has risen,
But more so when a single ray
Of sunlight penetrates a prison.

Protest Poetry #1: “Patriot”

Bilingual poetry in support of the protests in Bulgaria. English version from Anthology of Bulgarian Poetry (translated by Peter Tempest)

Patriot

No sacrifice he deems too small
For freedom or education
Self-sacrificing? Not at all.
He sacrifices the nation.

“We have all the patience in the world and twice as much brains”

Almost 40 days into the protests in Bulgaria, here’s an update on the situation. This is a brilliant piece by Samuil Petkov (a.k.a. zhelyo), a member of the NE!Novinite collective, originally published at OFFNews.bg.

Many have expressed criticism of the spirit of the protest. For 35 peaceful nights, tens of thousands of people have walked serenely with a smile on their lips and a loved one on their arm, denouncing the political class and demanding the resignation of the government. Nothing more, nothing less.

Skeptics believe that “carnivals” and “parades” will yield no results. They do not overtly demand more radical actions, but their patience is exhausted. Or their confidence in the protesters’ cause. Or they inherently rely on [the Bulgarian Socialist Party], blindly believing that they are a real alternative to GERB.

The blame for the impasse in the country is thrown at the crowd, which has, for over a month, peacefully resisted the provocations that ruined the February protests and distorted them. No blood, no aggression. Even verbal abuse and swearing are minimized – unprecedented for any group of people unknown to each other. The ones not being blamed are the ones committing blunder after blunder at the head of our state. Figures like [Volen] Siderov, [Anton] Koutev and [Tatyana] Burudjieva hurl ridiculous qualifications at the protesters, and the prime minister is searching for his balls, pitifully silent.

Yes, the Parliament and the Cabinet are playing deaf. Or they’re distorting the truth. We’re paid, we’re bloated, we’re few, we’re terrorists. They have claimed we are anything except what we are: all kinds.