A Tree and a Bird

Written by Gueorgui Konstantinov

Translated from Bulgarian by Valentin Krustev

Narrated by Bill Wolak

Bulgaria

A pair of fluttering wings

On the thin top of the tree.

The bird seems to be flying,

While in fact

It is

Perched there.

A place, insecure for rest,

An undulating pier,

But the bird finds support

In the chance dance.

It feels with its claws

The leaves

And the stem,

The incessant sap of the earth,

The deep pulse of the world…

A magic instant,

When

The bird has roots,

And the tree

Has wings.

 

 

Born in Pleven, Bulgaria, in 1943, Gueorgui Konstantinov graduated from the University of Sofia majoring in Bulgarian Philology in 1967. Since then, he has been employed as an Editor in the Literary Department of Bulgarian TV from 1967-71; as Chief Editor of Rodna Rech Literary Magazine in 1973; as Chief Editor of Plamak Literary Magazine in 1983, and as Director of the Publishing House Plamak in 1992. He has served as a Member of Parliament in the Fourth Great National Assembly in 1992; as Deputy Minister of Culture in 1995; and as President of the Bulgarian Center of P.E.N. International in 2001. He is the author of thirty-five books of poetry. His poems are included in anthologies of various languages including:  English, French, Russian, Japanese, German, Turkish, Greek, Arabian, Romanian, Hindi, Flemish, and Persian. He has received many awards and has participated in poetry festivals in Stockholm, Maastricht, Thessaloniki, Mexico City, Istanbul, Nicosia, Belgrade, Brussels, Bucharest, Riga, Tel Aviv, Delhi, Tehran, and Craiova. Currently, he lives in Sofia. 

Valentin Krustev is a translator and a lawyer. He earned his degree from Sofia University, Bulgaria. He has also translated Ashes of Light:New and Selected Poems by Lyubomir Levchev.