(Triptikh)

1

Ne iskupit’ i ne ispravit’ nam
oshibok i bedy togo aprelia.
Vsiu zhizn’ nesti sognuvshimsia plecham
prozrevshei sovesti muchitel’noe bremia!
Ved’ peresilit’,
kak pereselit’, po domu bol’, pover’te, nevozmozhno!
Ona v serdtsakh bien’em budet zhit’,
propisannaia pamiat’iu trevozhnoi . . .
Tam,
gorech’iu koliuchei okruzhen,
nash gorod udivlenno voproshaet:
za chto, za chto navek pokinut on,
ved’ on nas liubit
i za vse proshchaet?! .

2

On po nocham, konechno, ozhivaet,
nash gorod, opustevshii na veka.
Tam nashi sny bredut, kak oblaka,
i lunnym svetom okna zazhigaiut.
Tam neusypnoi pamiat’iu zhivut
derev’ia,
pomnia ruk prikosnoven’ia.
Kak gor’ko znat’ im,
chto svoeiu ten’iu
ot znoia nikogo ne sberegut!
Vot i kachaiut tikho na vetviakh
oni nochami nashi sny bol’nye . . .
I zvezdy rvutsia vniz,
na mostovye,
chtob do utra stoiat’ zdes’ na chasakh . . .
No minet chas.
Pokinutye snami,
zamrut osirotevshie doma,
i oknami,
soshedshimi s uma,
v kotoryi raz
proshchat’sia budut s nami! . .

3

Postoiav nad nashim pepelishchem,
chto voz’mem s soboiu v dolgii put’?
Tainyi strakh–ostat’sia vsiudu lishnim?
Smysl poteri,
obnazhivshei sut’
strannogo vnezapnogo bezrodstva,
bezuchast’ia tekh k tvoei bede,
komu, mozhet, tak zhe vot pridetsia
stat’ nichem v odin-edinyi den’?! .
. . . My obrecheny otstat’ ot stai
v samuiu surovuiu iz zim . . .
Vy zh letite!
Tol’ko, uletaia,
ne zabud’te nevzletevshii klin!
I v kakie b radostnye dali
vas – schastlivykh ptits–ni zaneslo,
pust’ vas ot bespechnosti spasaet
nashe opalennoe krylo! . .

Transliterated by Birgitta Ingemanson

TO PRIPYAT

1.
We can neither expiate nor rectify
the mistakes and misery of that April.
The bowed shoulders of a conscience awakened
must bear the burden of torment for life.
It’s impossible, believe me,
to overpower
or overhaul
our pain for the lost home.
Pain will endure in the beating hearts
stamped by the memory of fear.
There,
surrounded by prickly bitterness,
our puzzled town asks:
since it loves us
and forgives everything,
why was it abandoned forever?

2.
At night, of course, our town
though emptied forever, comes to life.
There, our dreams wander like clouds,
illuminate windows with moonlight.

There trees live by unwavering memories,
remember the touch of hands.
How bitter for them to know
there will be no one for their shade
to protect from the scorching heat!
At night their branches quietly rock
our inflamed dreams.
Stars thrust down
onto the pavement,
to stand guard until morning . . .
But the hour will pass . . .
Abandoned by dreams,
the orphaned houses
whose windows
have gone insane
will freeze and bid us farewell! . . .

3.
We’ve stood over our ashes;
now what do we take on our long journey?
The secret fear that wherever we go
we are superfluous?
The sense of loss
that revealed the essence
of a strange and sudden kinlessness,
showed that our calamity is not
shared by those who might, one day,
themselves face annihilation?
. . . We are doomed to be left behind by the flock
in the harshest of winters . . .
You, fly away!
But when you fly off
don’t forget us, grounded in the field!
And no matter to what joyful faraway lands
your happy wings bear you,
may our charred wings
protect you from carelessness.

Translated from the Russian by Leonid Levin and Elisavietta Ritchie

Russian original of this poem.

To Vasily Deomidovich Dubodel, who passed away in August 1988, and to all past and future victims of Chernobyl.

They did not register us
and our deaths
were not linked to the accident.
No processions laid wreaths,
no brass bands melted with grief.
They wrote us off as
lingering stress,
cunning genetic disorders . . .
But we–we are the payment for rapid progress,
mere victim (of someone else’s sated afternoons.
It wouldn’t have been so annoying for us to die
had we known
our death would help
to avoid more “fatal mistakes”
and halt replication of “reckless deeds”!
But thousands of “competent” functionaries
count our “souls” in percentages,
their own honesty, souls, long gone–
so we suffocate with despair.
They wrote us off.
They keep trying to write off
our ailing truths
with their sanctimonious lies.
But nothing will silence us!
Even after death,
from our graves
we will appeal to your Conscience
not to transform the Earth
into a sarcophagus!

* * *
Peace unto your remains,
unknown fellow-villager!
We’ll all end up there sooner or later.
Like everyone, you wanted to live.
As it turned out,
you could not survive . . .

Your torment is done.
Our turn will come:
prepare us a roomier place over there.
Oh, if only our “mass departure”
could be a burning lump of truth
in duplicity’s throat! . . .

May God not let anyone else
know our anguish!
May we be extinction’s limit.
For this, you died.
Peace unto your remains,
my fellow-villager
from abandoned hamlets.

Translated from the Russian by Leonid Levin and Elisavietta Ritchie

Russian original of this poem.

BURDEN

How amazing
in my thirtieth year
not to live
but instead
stumble along–
all bygone years
both happy and deadly,
heavy, wet, like logs,
crowd in the soul
as if in a tomb!

The soul does not sing
but rather becomes mute;
ails
rather than aches . . .
So it is harder to breathe.

I am not to fly!
Though the shallow edge
of heaven is over my porch.
Already the roads have tired me,
hobbled me so–
I can no longer soar!

Faces reflect in the heavens.
faces of those
to whom I have said farewell.
Not one can be forgotten!
No oblivion!

The soul, it seems–
is a difficult memory.
Nothing can be erased,
nothing subtracted,
nothing canceled,
nothing corrected! . . .

. . . Even so,–the burden is sacred,
the heavier
the dearer!

Translated from the Russian by Leonid Levin and Elisavietta Ritchie
Revised by Lyubov Sirota

Russian original of this poem.

RADIOPHOBIA

Is this only–a fear of radiation?
Perhaps rather–a fear of wars?
Perhaps–the dread of betrayal,
cowardice, stupidity, lawlessness?
The time has come to sort out
what is–radiophobia.
It is–
when those who’ve gone through the Chernobyl drama
refuse to submit
to the truth meted out by government ministers
(“Here, you swallow exactly this much today!”)
We will not be resigned
to falsified ciphers,
base thoughts,
however you brand us!
We don’t wish–and don’t you suggest it!–
to view the world through bureaucratic glasses!
We’re too suspicious!
And, understand, we remember
each victim just like a brother! . . .
Now we look out at a fragile Earth
through the panes of abandoned buildings.
These glasses no longer deceive us!–
These glasses show us more clearly–
believe me–
the shrinking rivers,
poisoned forests,
children born not to survive . . .
Mighty uncles, what have you dished out
beyond bravado on television?
How marvelously the children have absorbed
radiation, once believed so hazardous! . . .
(It’s adults who suffer radiophobia–
for kids is it still adaptation?)
What has become of the world
if the most humane of professions
has also turned bureaucratic?
Radiophobia
may you be omnipresent!
Not waiting until additional jolts,
new tragedies,
have transformed more thousands
who survived the inferno
into seers–
Radiophobia might cure
the world
of carelessness, satiety, greed,
bureaucratism and lack of spirituality,
so that we don’t, through someone’s good will
mutate into non-humankind.

Translated from the Russian by Leonid Levin and Elisavietta Ritchie

Russian original of this poem.

AT THE CROSSING

A century of universal decay.
In cyclotrons nuclei are split;
souls are split,
sounds are split
insanely.

While behind a quiet fence
on a bench in someone’s garden
Doom weighs
a century of separation
on the scales.

And her eyes are ancient,
and her palms are taut with nerves,
and her words clutch
in her throat . . .

Nearby and cynical, death
brandishes a hasty spade.
Here, whispers are worse than curses,
offer no consolation.

Yet out on the festive streets
the mixed chorus
of pedestrians and cars
never stops.

The stoplight
winks with greed,
gobbles the fates of those it meets
in the underground passageways
of eternity.

How long
the bureaucrats
babbled on
like crows
about universal good . . .
Yet somehow
that universal good
irreversibly
seeps away.
Have we slipped up?

In the suburbs, choke-cherries
came out with white flowers
like gamma fluorescence.
What is this–a plot by mysterious powers?
Are these intrigues?
We have slipped up!

Choke-cherries are minor.
They are not vegetables . . .
Here, tomatoes ripened too early:
someone just ate one–the ambulance
had to be called in a rush.
We have slipped up.

We came to the sea–
the eternal source of healing . . .
And–we were stunned.
The sea is an enormous waste dump.
What happened?
Have we slipped up?

How masterfully
the blind promoters
of gigantic plans
manipulated us so far!
Now the bitter payment
for what we so easily
overlooked yesterday..

Has day died?
Or is this the end of the world?
Morbid dew on pallid leaves.
By now it’s unimportant
whose the fault,
what the reason,
the sky is boiling only with crows . . .
And now–no sounds, no smells.
And no more peace in this world.
Here, we loved . . .
Now, eternal separation
reigns on the burnt out Earth . . .

These dreams are dreamed
ever more often.
Ever more often I am sad for no reason,
when flocks of crows
circle over the city
in skies, smoky, alarmed . . .

Translated from the Russian
by Leonid Levin and Elisavietta Ritchie

Original Russian version of this poem.

FATE
(Triptych)

1.
I am working–
as if with my final strength,
as if from my final days
I look at eternity.
The moment of farewell
has made my head spin . . .
I adore you–
random passersby!
To me–you are no one,
but you give me the plot,
the smile,
the glance laced with bitterness . . .
Your astonished looks follow me, surprised
I-love you for no reason.
Yet maybe
I can see more clearly
from the silence,
bareness of abandoned hamlets–
nothing more absurd than feuds,
nothing more splendid than confession,
how petty are success and luck,
how lowly the yearning for riches.
Like last year’s snow, you can’t buy
at any price the sense
of brotherhood.
What happiness–
to come home,
to repay debts to friends and kin,
without thinking
your last duty is
to bow over your smoldering home!

2.
I accept
this world!
I embrace
this air!
I am happy
it is not simple
for me
to become
your happiness . . .

3.
I am working–
as if with my final strength,
as if from my final days
I look at eternity.
But only with you
is the hour of daybreak kind.
And only with you
is every evening splendid.
Indeed can it be
I have only a handful of days
left to live–
to be burnt up in one short month?
Now,
when I can love so much,
when my world is so majestic and bright!
Life went up in smoke from somebody’s campfire
(this world has inquisitors to spare!).
Everything burned,
burned up.
Even the ashes
were not always left behind . . .
But the stubborn soul still lives
yet again resurrected from ashes!
I live with abandon!
I live, breathing you!
And for you, I am ready to go
into the inferno again!
But with merciful hands you extinguish
the fatal fire under me.
My beloved,
may God protect you!
May the flame of the redeemed soul shield you!

Translated from the Russian by Leonid Levin and Elisavietta Ritchie

Russian original of this poem.

Your glance will trip on my shadow
and the shadow
will thrust itself
into the leafy shade.
The pale sun will shine over us,
a lantern
scorched by the burning question . . .
Caught by the gravity of the light,
breathing is choked, lips are pressed,
and there is no answer,
no answer
to this light in the violent night.
But freed from gravity our shadows
shook the jasmine bush,
they will drift apart,
breathe night haze at our backs.
And the yellow leaf will fall exhausted,
it will take unbearably long to inhale.
As if the wisdom of autumn
were to catch us by surprise . . .

Translated from the Russian by Leonid Levin and Elisavietta Ritchie

Russian original of this poem.

Back to introduction

Sirota’s agent in North America: Paul Brians, Department of English, Washington State University, Pullman 99164-5020.

First published June 19, 1995.

Revised November 11, 2003

Paul Brians’ Home Page

(Triptikh)

1

Vek vselenskogo raspada.
V tsiklotronakh rvutsia iadra;
rvutsia dushi,
rvutsia zvuki
besheno . . .

A za tikhoiu ogradoi
na skam’e chuzhogo sada
obrechennost’
vek razluki
vzveshivaet.

I glaza ee antichny,
i ladoni nervno szhaty,
i slova ee v gortani
sderzhany . . .

Riadom mashet smert’ tsinichno
toroplivoiu lopatoi.
Zdes’ i shepot pushche brani –
bezuteshnee . . .

A na ulitse nariadnoi
gromykhaet beskonechnyi
khor mashin i peshekhodov
smeshannyi . . .

Svetofor,
migaia zhadno,
pogloshchaet sud’by vstrechnykh
u podzemnykh perekhodov
vechnosti . . .

2

Dolgo
o blage,
slovno vorony,
neugomonno chinushi galdeli . . .
No pochemu-to
bespovorotno
blago ukhodit . . .
Ne dogliadeli?!

Vyshla vesnoiu cheremukha za gorod
v belom tsvetenii–v gamma-svechenii.
Chto eto–sil tainstvennykh zagovor?
Proiski ch’i-to?
Ne dogliadeli!

Chto tam cheremukha!
Eto ne ovoshch . . .
Vot pomidory do sroka sozreli:
s”el pomidoriny–‘skoruiu pomoshch’ ‘
vyzvali srochno.
Ne dogliadeli.

K moriu priekhali–
k neissiakaemoi
sile tselebnoi . . .
I–obomleli.
More–ogromnaia stochnaia iama . . .
Chto zhe sluchilos’?
Ne dogliadeli?

Kak zhe nas lovko dosele durachili
planov gigantskikh
slepye radeteli!
Vot i prikhoditsia gor’ko oplachivat’
to, chto tak prosto vchera progliadeli my . . .

3

Skonchalsia den’?
Ili Zemli konchina?
Na blednykh list’iakh–mertvaia rosa.
Uzhe ne vazhno,
ch’ia vina
in ne vazhna prichina,
lish’ voron’em vskipaiut nebesa . . .
I vot
uzhe ni zapakhov, ni zvukov.
I v etom mire mira bol’she net.
Zdes’ my liubili . . .
Vechnaia razluka
teper’ tsarit na vyzhzhennoi Zemle . . .

Takie sny vse chashche snit’sia stali.
Vse chashche besprichinno grustno mne,
kogda nad gorodom
kruzhat voron’i stai
v prodymlennoi,
trevozhnoi vyshine . . .

Transliterated by Birgitta Ingemanson

Elisvietta Ritchie, translator of Lyubov Sirota’s Chernobyl poems, is an American writer whose poetry and fiction has been widely published. She has made many translations of Russian poetry and prose, including Aleksandr Blok’s The Twelve and works by Anna Akhmatova, Nikolai Gumilev, Aleksandr Galich, Yevgeniy Yevtushenko, Robert Rozhdestvenskiy, and Arkady Rovner. She has worked as a contract translator from French and Russian for various governmental and private clients. Her own poetry has been translated and published in a dozen languages.

Books and chapbooks by Elisavietta Ritchie

Awaiting Permission To Land (poetry, 2006)
The Spirit Of The Walrus (poetry, 2005)
In Haste I Write You This Note: Stories & Half-Stories (2000)
The Arc Of The Storm (poetry, 1998)
Elegy For The Other Woman:
New & Selected Poems (1996)
Wild Garlic: The Journal Of Maria X. (novella In verse, (1995)
A Wound-Up Cat And Other Bedtime Stories (poetry, 1993)
Flying Time: Stories & Half-Stories (1992 & 1996)
The Problem With Eden (poetry, 1985)
Raking The Snow (poetry, 1982)
Moving To Larger Quarters (poetry, 1977)
A Sheath Of Dreams And Other Games (poetry, 1976)
Tightening The Circle Over Eel Country (poetry, 1974)
Timbot, (novella In verse, 1970)
Poetry anthologies created and edited:
The Dolphin’S Arc: Poems On Endangered Creatures Of The Sea (1986)
Finding The Name (1983)
Textbooks line-edited

Interventions Following Mass Violence and Disasters (2006)
Tsunami Relief Efforts by Several Militaries of the World (in press)

To contact her, write

elisavietta@chesapeake.net

Elisavietta Ritchie
3207 Macomb Street NW
Washington DC 20008-3327

or

P.O. Box 298
Broomes Island MD
20615

Return to
The Chernobyl Poems

Dr. Adolph Harash: “A Voice from Dead Pripyat”

Tvoi vzgliad o ten’ moiu spotknetsia,
i ten’
metnetsia
v sumrak listvennyi.
Nad nami vspykhnet blednym solntsem
fonar’,
voprosom zhguchim vyzhzhennyi . . .
Popav pod tiagoten’e sveta,
dykhan’e szhato, guby stisnyty,
i net otveta,
net otveta
na etot svet v nochi neistovoi! . .
No, vyrvavshis’ iz tiagoteniia,
kachnuv zaviadshii kust zhasmina, –
vroz’ poplyvut dve nashi teni,
nochnoiu mgloi dysha nam v spiny.
I zheltyi list padet na vydokhe,
istomno-dolgim budet vzdokh.
Kak budto my i vpriam’ zastignuty
osennei mudrost’iu vrasplokh . . .

Transliterated by Birgitta Ingemanson

by Adolph Kharash
Science Director, Moscow State University

I first met Lyubov Sirota late in January 1988 in Kiev, in an area of the city called Troeshchino where, in November of 1986, there settled a group of people evacuated from Pripyat, the satellite city of the Chernobyl nuclear plant. They warmly greeted our group of students and professors from Moscow University in the Zemliaki club , where the children from the deserted city were taking classes in dance and drawing, and adults were meeting to recall what had been and plan what would come.

People from Pripyat very much appreciated any kind of attention. It was no joke that for almost two months after the catastrophe not a single word about Pripyat was in the central press or tv or radio–nothing about the fate of the city which was in an hour forever deserted by more than 50,000 inhabitants. Even some knew of its existence (the town was designated “special purpose” or “Secret”), nobody knew that this was the nearest city to the Chernobyl nuclear plant, only three kilometers away. I learned about the existence of this city only in June, 1986, when I went to the site. The inhabitants of Pripyat knew nothing of the explosion. They suspected nothing, took no precautions, and were exposed to the fallout from the Chernobyl catastrophe for thirty-six hours.

The City of Ghosts is how the city was called in the poems of another acquaintance from Troeshchino, Vladimir Shovkoshitny, a friend of Liubov Sirota; he had formerly worked in the Chernobyl nuclear plant and was one of the first volunteers for the cleanup of the aftermath.

Lyubov Sirota and her little son lived in the neighborhood of Pripyat closest to the nuclear plant. The night of the April 25th was very warm and clear. Lyubov couldn’t sleep. She went outside to breathe the fresh, fragrant spring air. She was one of the first–one of the few–people in Pripyat to see above the Chernobyl plant the evil flash of light, the star Wormwood (in Russian,Chernobyl ), which two thousand years ago was prophesied in the Book of Revelation, and which that night abruptly incinerated people’s hopes and plans. If she had only known then that she should have closed her eyes and run, not looking back, away from this dawn glow, from this air rich with spring blossoms.

“Nobody knew anything.”

This is how I see Lyubov; even today, though I have often met with her after that remarkable evening in Troeshchino She was the embodiment of defenselessness, and of limitless baffled anger.

“Nobody knew anything.”

She was the first to try to explain to us, the uninitiated, who came from well-protected, undisturbed Moscow, what had actually happened in Pripyat that night and in the following thirty-six hours of anxious waiting. Now, three years after we met in Troeshchino I can see the Pripyat of that time in the light of my endless pondering and in the pain in the voice of Lyubov Sirota in the poem “At the Crossing.²;

Has day died?
Or is this the end of the world?
Morbid dew on pallid leaves.
By now it’s unimportant
whose the fault,
what the reason,
the sky is boiling only with crows . . .
And now–no sounds, no smells.
And no more peace in this world.
Here, we loved . . .
Now, eternal separation
reigns on the burnt out Earth . . .

The destruction of Pripyat is the destruction of the promised land; it is a metaphor of universal destruction, a prophecy and sign of the Apocalypse. For the latter inevitable and universal catastrophe there will be in reality no one who can be called guilty. Any merely human cause is utterly petty, trifling, not worth mentioning. But for earthly tragedies earthly beings must pay the price. The perishable flesh prevents the spirit from freeing itself from earthly cares and soaring into cosmic space. Flesh drags the spirit down to the deserted hearth, forces it to grieve unconsolably for the fate of relatives and neighbors, to look into the eyes of children in which an unchildish despair is fixed.

Again and again, we torture ourselves with the living pictures of that summery April day, when the people–unsuspecting–opened the windows of their apartments, strolled about in the streets, sunbathed on the river beaches, celebrated weddings, picnicked in the nearby forests, eating ice cream which was sold in the street, the children frolicking, thrusting their bare arms up to the elbows into the foaming streams of radioactive water streaming profusely through the city streets. Again and again one seeks in torment the guilty and laments for the victims. This is why Lyubov Sirota’s apocalyptic insights are not for an instant abstract or passionless, even prophesying as they do the end of the world. These insights are deeply personal and quite mortal. They are penetrated by physical pain and inscribed with the grief for the casualities and concern for the lives and fates of mortal, living people and also by angry accusations against other people–also very much alive and mortal–who did not rush to help, did not warn of the danger, did not prevent the fatal outcome.

In one of the films of Rolan Sergienko, who created a cycle of films on the Chernobyl catastrophe, fact is uniquely combined with artistic expressiveness. Lyubov Sirota participated in making one of the films, Threshold. One scene, shot in Pripyat April 26, 1986 by a young local cameraman named Nazarenko, shows a sunlit street filled with people in the midst of their festive Saturday holiday, women strolling carelessly, wearing light, loose dresses, infants in their strollers, bareheaded men relieved of their workday burdens. Suddenly two strange and gloomy figures appear, looking like characters from a science fiction film about an invasion from another planet: two militiamen in shiny protective clothing fully covering their bodies, wearing gloves, hoods, and tightly-sealed military respirators. A passerby who meets them stands still as if petrified, looking at this fantastic vision, not trusting his own eyes, as if he had seen them in a dream. Or perhaps this is what our terrifying reality is: a dream.

“Nobody knew anything,’ repeats Lyubov Sirota, but this does not apply to everybody–not to those who in one way or another knew about the April tragedy. The citizens of Pripyat, who should have been informed in the first place so that they could immediately take care of their own safety, knew nothing about it,. But those who made decisions knew everything about the catastrophe–or almost everything. As can be seen from the posthumously published notes of academician Legasov prove that by four o’clock A.M. of April 26, 1986, in the Kremlin, a thousand kilometers from carefree and defenseless Pripyat, they already had sufficient information about all elements of that night’s catastrophe at the Chernobyl nuclear plant. Those authorities took care to have the militiamen dressed in special protective clothing; the unsuspecting citizens were given only counseling. The official declaration by the important bureaucrats from the Ministry of Health was that the evacuation was carried out in time, and that none of the city’s inhabitants had suffered any harm. Their fears and concerns were declared unnecessary, groundless, labelled with the sinister psychiatric term “radiophobia.’

The event in Chernobyl inspired special documentary films such as Rolan Sergienko’s movies and also the writings of the poets from Pripyat. Works in this genre are difficult to understand if you do not consider their factual basis. The poem “Radiophobia,” which stands out in the poetic work of Lyubov Sirota, belongs to this genre.

“Don’t promote this terrible word radiophobia!”

This was the first request made to us that evening in Troeshchino by the citizens of Pripyat. For those who were at the epicenter of the Chernobyl cataclysm this word is a grievous insult. It treats the normal impulse to self-protection, natural to everything living, your moral suffering, your anguish and your concern about the fate of your children, relatives and friends, and your own physical suffering and sickness as a result of delirium, of pathological perversion. This term deprives those who became Chernobyl’s victims of hope for a better future because it dismisses as unfounded all their claims concerning physical health, adequate medical care, food, decent living conditions, and just material compensation. It causes an irreparable moral harm, inflicting a sense of abandonment and social deprivation that is inevitable in people who have gone through such a catastrophe.

Does the term “radiophobia” console anyone? Yes, of course. First, it calms public opinion , suggesting that only a handful of victims of Chernobyl ecxists. And what are tens or hundreds of thousands of people, or even several million, in such a large country, or measured against all of humanity? A handful of super-sensitive individuals who gave in to panic. Most important, the term excuses the authorities from worrying, relieves them of responsibility for the destructive effects of the Chernobyl catastrophe on human organisms, and helps them to “conserve&” huge material resources.

That meeting in Troeshchino went on late into the long winter night. “Look, he’s fallen asleep,” said Liubov” Sirota, looking at her son as he napped in a corner. “He’s tired. Before the war he sat in front of the TV until long after midnight.” [These words have a special meaning: “before the catastrophe” as they are used by those who happened to be in the area contaminated by radioactive rain of cesium, plutonium, and strontium. People call that period in history, which began for them on the night of April 25th, 1986 and which stretches into the present– “the war.”]

“My apartment is not in order,’ she apologized when I unexpectedly visited Lybov Sirota one week later in her small two-room apartment in Kiev’s Kharkov district. She added bitterly, “I’m still young, a little over thirty, but have no energy to clean the floors properly, no energy.’ This is also the voice motherly anxieties, the voice of physical exhaustion which came Unbidden. The fate of children and adults burned by the invisible fire of Chernobyl became a very heavy burden.

This is how we live.
The body is heavier and heavier,
the spirit is subtler and narrower.
It can enter the deserted house;
it circles like a bird above Pripyat in the night . . .
and you often wish that it would leave the inept body
and not days but years flow away
and numberless are the losses.
But one has to live,
and for the sake of the children,
accumulate anger,
to efface the old age in children’s eyes
with the hope for a cure.

These lines are not printed in the copy of the collection Lyubov gave me. She wrote these lines by hand on the last page as a personal gift from the poet. But one has to live.

In her poems Lyuba entrusts her soul to other people. She believes that people will carry on this burden and help her, as she herself is ready to help everyone who lives on earth. The source of her faith is a crystal-clear spring of love, friendship, comradeship, mutual understanding, which penetrates her lyrics from the beginning to the end.

We are with you, dear reader; while people live on earth, hope is alive, hope for a better future, and this is what the poet wrote on my copy of Burden.From dead Pripyat comes the voice of living suffering, of a living soul, living hope. This hope is the underlying current of the creative impulse that inspires the poetry of Lyubov Sirota, the sacred meaning of her lyrics. I am enormously happy that this voice will sound for thousands of readers whose friendly help will no doubt ease the uneasy burden one poet. Perhaps this is also a small foreshadowing of the message about the better future for which Lyubov Sirota hopes.

Translated by Arkady Rovner, with Paul Brians, Birgitta Ingemanson, and Elizavietta Ritchie.
The Chernobyl Poems from Burden by Lyubov Sirota

Ukrainian with In: http://www.vesna.org.ua/txt/syrotal/spaspl.html

                                                                                         Lyubov Sirota 

                                                               “Salvation PLANET”

      MODELING OF THE FUTURE – REALITY

                                               Have sown – rises

           It just so happened that a sinister explosion at Chernobyl A E C radiation blew across the globe, so the word Chernobyl is now known throughout the world as the apocalyptic Star Wormwood. But whether all learned the lessons of Chernobyl? If we could see through the lens of his black reality of our existence and management in the world? It seems that only years later we begin to understand that all the troubles in the world engendered by the people themselves. It is gratifying that the July 23, 1998, former US Vice President Al Gore, speaking at the National Museum of Chernobyl, after a visit to Chernobyl and the dead city Pripyat, called today “a great moment of choice”, and the main lesson of Chernobyl – the need for purification. “In this sense – he said – what happened at Chernobyl should revive spiritually not only those affected by this tragedy, but all of us, if we take into account the lesson that we are all in a common bundle of Chernobyl challenge is. recognizing that our responsibility is the field of the Earth itself is probably the danger of our advanced technologies will lead us back to the ancient wisdom -. wisdom . Survival of kindness did not require it before, but it demands it now … “. Gore urged to work together to realize the highest wisdom of the world in the new laws and agreements, so that we do not split up, not disappeared, and continues in the child. So, today it is obvious that to live according to the laws of conscience – not a luxury but an urgent need. Well, that the understanding of the true causes of our troubles come and the power-haves, since the survival of the idea requires a common effort of all humanity, which has to be better.                   

           It is no coincidence that the year before it was among the former Pripyat of the Kiev club “Compatriots” was born the idea to give the world famous mournful day April 26 positive momentum that it became more and Day of Hope for the salvation of mankind, which requires an annual 10-minute (from 17.00 to 17.10 GMT) in association earthlings general aspiration to peace, harmony, love and kindness. A publication of 28/01/98 , the “Appeal to the earthlings of Chernobyl” in the newspaper “Your Health” (with the filing of one of the initiators of the action of the poet and journalist Victor Grabowski marked the beginning of the international action “saved the planet”, which is already a first step – 26 April 1998 – embraced a lot of people both in Ukraine and in America , Germany, Austria, Italy, Bulgaria, Russia … I think this was due to the gradual assimilation the main lesson of Chernobyl – that without spiritual rebirth of humanity is doomed to a global catastrophe, when the whole planet will become a “dead zone”, as our beautiful city of Pripyat (http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/chernobyl_poems/photos1.html ) . But more than six billion earthlings will have nowhere to move! ..  

          I note that the action in any case not replace the efforts of religious and spiritual, cultural, educational and socio-political organizations, but rather complements their daily work in the field of spiritual renewal, preparing the ground for fertile crops. It is not surprising that in Ukraine, the project has found support at the state level, and that the action “The Saved Planet”, as a form of spiritual unity of the nation and humanity, already supported by UNESCO, of Greenpeace, Environmental Association LEGAMVІENTE (Italy), women’s ecological association “Mutter Gegen Atomkraft “(Germany), a society of victims of the tragedy of Hiroshima” Juno “(Japan), world spiritual University Brahma Kumaris (India), Ukrainian peace Council and the Foundation of culture of Ukraine, the Union” Chernobyl “, female community Rukh, the party” green “, a considerable the number of deputies, scientists, cultural figures, representatives of the Ukrainian clergy and other countries … and now a few years of Chernobyl Appeal reprint independent media, read in churches and squares. And such action activists as Tatiana and Alexander Bezgin from Kiev not only annually publish this appeal in his newspaper “the lake”, but they are also on their funds publish leaflets and other materials stocks …

           Unfortunately, there are also a complete misunderstanding of the importance and practical significance of the action: some consider it a purely religious; other naive or declarative; and some are not serious, they say, in society too many pressing issues to deal with such “nonsense.”

           Yes, urgent problems must be addressed today, but not forgetting about tomorrow, keeping in mind that all of the most acute, urgent problems – from economic decline and growth of criminality to wars, environmental and man-made disasters – have a long tail in the past. The layers of the earth and full of aerial phenomena of human atrocities. Epidemics, disasters and other misfortunes physically and mentally dependent on these layers. That is, we sow, then reap! And you can wonder what is going on on the planet, when the consciousness of many people are still not able to rise above the everyday, bodily needs? Such a consciousness is difficult to comprehend that every thought of man changes his environment, that, apart from the body, it has a spirit, has energies that every moment create or destroy the world around him. After all, the idea to create a character. Sow a character – reap a destiny. These truths somehow not assimilated by humanity. Entering the world as destroyers, despots and haters, exploiting all weaker – we wonder why we are met by a fear and hatred of the weak strong, why even the planet itself sometimes so uncharitable to us. In fact – all the way around! In their blindness we do not see, that the hatred of the outside world – a reflection of the evil we have generated.

           Man, not thinking about the Supreme, it becomes reptile attracts lower energy. Many diseases, many killings are generated by thoughts of destruction. Thought this great gift, it is lost in ignorant actions.   We are ready to betray even Mother Earth, just not to think about the consequences of our actions and thoughts. But it is spiritual degradation and irresponsibility have brought mankind into a vicious circle of constant, urgent problems, the eternal struggle with the consequences of its own imperfection, and failure to take the path of spiritual renewal, said the Saviour more 2000 years ago. Meanwhile, only a highly spiritual humanity can overcome all the trials of the new millennium. After all, to change the world – means – to change yourself! That is why the salvation of the planet depends on each of us.

           For people who do not believe in the Higher Wisdom to pragmatic people give some provisions of the noosphere concept of the famous Ukrainian scientist, Academician VI Vernadsky, which serve as the scientific basis of the action “saved the planet.” It is no coincidence among scientists, immediately signed the “Appeal to the earthlings,” and was a follower of Academician Vernadsky DM Grodzinskiy.

           Even before World War II, VI Vernadsky wrote: “The idea of uniting all of humanity becomes a reality only in our time. It is clear that the creation of such a unity is a necessary condition for organization of the noosphere, and mankind will inevitably come to him. ” If these words are heard then how much less dark energy layers have obscured today by means of civilization Higher Forces! By the way, regarding the actual existence of the Earth’s shell, is involved in the effect of the human mind and spirit associate Vernadsky PA Florensky called it “pnevmatosferoy”.But we did not call this a thin layer of the planet, each person today

He should know that the quality of his thoughts and feelings on the direction of its action depends on everything that happens on Earth. For, as stated in the law Vernadsky:

                                          “Macrocosm – In   MICROCOSM”

           The scientist has seen the development of the biosphere as a great process, unfolding in space-time system of the Earth, which is the space-time (PT), a reflection of an even more grand processions, unfolding on the scale of the universe, the reflection of its evolution. That is, “Space sculpts the face of the earth.” In turn, the space code pathological disturbances in the Earth’s environment have a negative impact on the cosmic processes, since there is a constant interdependence of the space hierarchical circuit (CIC) and the biosphere hierarchical circuit (CIC).Forward and backward linkages include information, energy and material interactions, through which there is a hierarchical exchange of information, energy and matter. In this scheme can be maintained stable hierarchical dynamic balance (homeostasis) as separate units, and the entire circuit as a whole. This allows with one voice to address the problems of protection of the biosphere and space from pollution on a real and field levels. All types of contaminants are manifested in violation of information, energy and real structures of the CIC, and CIC, which leads to disruption of homeostasis, to change the parameters of the PX units. In a system derived from the state of dynamic balance starts pathological processes – “disease” (similar way as it happens in the human body – one of the links of the chain). There is a critical imbalance threshold, above which the inclusion of mechanisms for intensive correction level of pathology, to bring it to the values of the parameters determined by a dynamic balance condition. Processes of this kind may be unexpected (eg, for human populations), at an accelerated pace breaking all forms of information, energy , real organization CIC – CIC.

          Simply put, all the negative in the world is caused by contaminants in the physical and spiritual levels. And is it’s not obvious that we – humanity – has brought the planet to the critical threshold of imbalance?

That is why it is so important to oppose the inertia of the lack of spirituality directed, virtuous, collective energy of humanity, which is absolutely real is able to improve the condition of a thin layer of the planet, which, in turn, positively affect the moral and mental and physical health of each individual. As a result, everyone wins – and man and society, and nature, for the less will be the error is less than the consequences of unwise actions (from the household, to the process of political and planetary levels).

           Thus, the idea of spirituality is to enter into life, like a true understanding of the foundations of Being. Divine spark each person can ignite the flame at will, aspiration to merge with the Higher Will. The will also directed to the union with the Higher Will acquires the power of the magnet, capable to specify and approve a better life, drawing all the necessary energy. So, change the priority values of humanity can restore dynamic balance system of the Earth. After all, thoughts, ideas and aspirations of the people to materialize! To give just one example of the legacy of the same Academician Vernadsky, who long before the launch of the first artificial satellite of the Earth said: “We see in our social environment, natural desire of some individuals in the real dreams and action to break out of our planet, to penetrate the built devices beyond Earth, other worlds in the cosmos. This natural desire , to think, sooner or later will result in the actual results. “

             So, in the light of the scientific concept of Vernadsky, an annual international event “saved the planet” can be seen as a form of collective impact of humanity on the harmonization of the noosphere and biosphere of the Earth, one of the forms of practical modeling of the future! This is the real embodiment of a multi-year commitment of scientists to combine the achievements of science to a mass movement for peace, the scope of reason and scope of the world …

            I hope these arguments will convince even skeptics that the survival of the idea requires a spiritual healing of humanity. However, a person with a sensitive, wise-hearted need not delveinto the scientific reasoning , he understands the spiritual process as the need to live according to conscience , fostering a beneficial virtuous qualities , chief among which remained Kindness andLove (from love to the neighbor is gradually approaching to the divine Love ) .

                                             LOVE SAVES THE WORLD

            In this eternal truth laid down the basic principle of renovation of the world, the key is able to open the gates of humanity in a better future . Taking into account the judgment of thatbefore a person’s death opens the Higher Wisdom , shows a fragment of the last interviews more of our famous countryman – Opera singer Anatoly Solovyanenko : “Love must move the world! .. Beauty, Love and Virtue have to save the world, because no man can live in the environment of evil intransigence , envy , all of which creates a negative field around us. This be not be ! Andspirituality should be brought up in us … so that our children could tell then what – then the grateful words for the fact that we left them not only to Chernobyl and bad ecology , we left them hope… We must feel the thought of the need for radical change , to take care of , so that our spirit has finally dawned that he rose above it all, and said to us: – Boys! People! Where are you going?You need to go this way, that you will feel the joy of life! .. “.

            As is common with those that wrote recently in a letter one of the devotees of the action “saved the planet,” American writer Douglas Lamb: “I so much want to live in this world has become better! And I’m always amazed at the thought that it is not hard to do – just need to get all the people to respect life, respect each other and appreciate this beautiful planet! “. Douglas also said that made a copy of the stock and sent them to different social and religious organizations (first of all – Ukrainian Orthodox and Ukrainian Catholic churches in Boston), and the newspapers, including Russian and Ukrainian editions in Boston and New York City. “It’s a great idea – directed action of prayer, because God always answers prayers!” – He said, calling the action “saved the planet” planetary Day of Prayer. And this is a very precise definition!                         

           Anticipating grin skeptic, I must say, that should not be taken as an abstract notion of prayer, for prayer – the bridge that connects the human with the Higher World, lead to the Supreme Bliss. Radiation indifferent heart have fiery qualities, able to saturate and clean space. Prayer inherent properties of a strong magnet, it attracts the action from the best space and energy opportunities.

           The antipode of prayer – foul language, how , and other negative phenomena, on the contrary, creates a kind of a dark magnet, disturbing and contaminating space. Blasphemy and bad language in its consequences more dangerous anthropogenic emissions of toxic gases industries, for produce terrible spiritual destruction, not to mention the diseases associated with the violation of the atmosphere. But worst of all diseases will be the destruction of thin layers of some planetary. How many prayers and good thoughts need to fill these abysses and ulcers space!

           The power of mental energy – the mystery, which reflected the sages of all time. People finally have to realize that their energy gives great effect; that the potential of thought, trusted each, it may be used wisely and sparingly – for peace, or recklessly and wastefully – to the detriment of all things. Thus, prayer can be a great experience and evidence of the highest manifestations of the spirit, – uttering the prayer, we bring spatial favor of the world. If you are going to combine the thoughts, we are going for the common good as a high idea is akin to prayer. The idea of the benefit – a happy thought, since there are no good ideas, which would not give the best fruits. She, like lightning, piercing the lower layers in the layers rises spiritual and returns clean energy of the celestial spheres, to protect people from negative influences. That is why it is so important to everyone to awaken in the heart higher aspirations, because the energy of the space subject to the action of the powerful heart rays. The conscious attitude of each to his divine principle can lay the foundation of the New World. The awakening of spiritual forces will lead humanity out of the impasse, the spiritual improvement of the World will bring higher energy required to build a better future …

           A striking example of effective combination of high aspirations of millions of people with higher energies become our peace “orange” revolution, which is now known all over the world …The explosion of national confrontation cynical lies and criminal pressure on people pre, in and post-election techenie- – reminded me the people’s indignation against the equally cynical lies and concealment of the true consequences of the Chernobyl disaster, which was then the catalyst for real democratic changes in the USSR and its disintegration. Then, after the Chernobyl disaster, a major factor in the protest of people, “the last straw” their patience was the term “phobia”, which the authorities have branded thousands of real victims and the suffering of people .. “The last straw” patience of people is now – was the conclusion of the Central Election Commission of Ukraine results of the second round of presidential elections (because all people know how it actually was, how shamelessly and brazenly falsify been made!). However, this time the scale of the protest – was much larger and higher quality! .. Of course, we were mortally afraid for their children (always located in the heart of the action – in the “hottest spots”), because we have a very dangerous and tense situation every day, because after each new hope, the Kuchma-Yanukovych government did following a criminal move that carried a new alarm. Each day (especially every night!) They wanted to “free hand” some provocation! But they failed to do so, just due to the surprisingly peaceful and high spirits of the insurgent people and thanks to the unique vigilance of all people and of every individual! .. That power said to the world that we have a separation of people by language or territorial basis. But all of this – a lie! In fact, we had a confrontation majority of Ukrainian citizens wishing to truth and justice, arbitrary criminal authorities – opposition to decency and immorality, culture (the cult of Ur , that is Light !) And lack of culture .. What then born on Independence Square in Kiev, squares and streets of Ukraine, amazed even the most cynical people. It was – the cult of Light ..! We are all then prayed to God to immoral policy will not trampled this beautiful flower ..! And every day we thanked God for the immense happiness – again feel the power and energy comprehensive Joy Love! .. Indeed, events “orange revolution” in Ukraine showed how work can bring together people of good will in the name of Truth, Goodness and Justice. (And it is such a union of positive energy – the basis of the action “save the planet”!). Encouraged by the high aspirations of the people won through peaceful means , it is because the energy of love and truth of millions of people in Ukraine (and all those who in those days was mentally with us!) Started to work! .. By ak know, perhaps long-term joint prayer of the protesters ” Saving the planet “also made its contribution to that victory?!.          
           

And it was particularly gratifying that the first item on the program of the new government of Ukraine has become a spiritual revival of society. Unfortunately, politicians have not met the expectations of the people. Yet high energy Maidan will remain in the hearts of the people of that unquenchable spark of love and freedom, thanks to which Ukraine will be truly civilized, democratic and prosperous   European state.   The main thing that has designated the right priorities. And we believe that if the prayers and aspirations of the people will be united in this direction, the Lord will help us again! ..

                                            The DIO VEDE – the DIO PROVVEDE

            “God knows – God will provide,” – said of the action “saved the planet,” Professor Hugo Percy from the University of Bergamo ( http 😕 //www.unibg.it/struttura/struttura.asp rubrica = 1 & persona = 504 = nome Ugo & & Cognome = Persi & titolo = Prof ) , who translated the “Appeal to the earthlings” in Italian and gave his environmental LEGAMBIENTE Association (environment League) having centers in 15 Italian cities. A first active devotees of this idea from the University of Washington Professor Paul Brians (http://brians.wsu.edu ) , who back in 1998 put the “Appeal” in on its website (http://brians.wsu.edu/2016/12/05/an-appeal-to-the-citizens-of-earth/), and professor Birgitta Ingemanson continue to spread the “Appeal to the earthlings” and a poster with an invitation to the next meeting on April 26 at 9:00 am local time (in my university library or on Friendship Square, the Moskov for Idaho, USA) and asking those who can not come at the appointed hour mind to join the action. Birgitta Ingemanson telling how faithfully responded to the call for unity positive energy urban residents Pullman and Moskov For , quotes a passage from a letter Rozidzha David his father: “Thank you for the invitation to join you on the Day of Memory and Hope. I will be happy to hold a prayer service on April 26 … This is a noble cause. In the words of our poet Tenison: “The more cases, the more prayers – and we will tear the dream world from the shackles of indifference …”.

           But in 2000, he responded to the “Handling of Chernobyl” Debra Schubert from Spring’s Lake Michigan, USA: “My mind and my heart filled with pain at the thought of Chernobyl and of how many evil people do to each other?!. But amidst all this tragedy I hear your words Cards and Love … From now on, every year on April 26 at a specified hour, I and my family will join Vseplanetarnoy prayer. We will pray for the salvation of our planet. Perhaps all of us together manage to beg forgiveness for our unrighteous deeds, and to go back to all that is good and righteous. The world – with you! “.

Another propagandist “saving the planet” in the   US, a student of the University of Wyoming Kim Hєnri, also found in his time “Title of Chernobyl” on the   Web pages of Professor Paul Braynsa, responded to him with her poem “Life”: ” You asked me about the whole world dark . I quietly turn to you and inform you that in this darkness there shines an amazing diamond, found in the heart of the black night. Exciting, illuminating light of the two truths – try to gently touch each: Love that elevates and adds strength and beauty – the captive soul music that fills our minds sweet heartbeat of life itself … The only question is: where wants to be your heart, and that looking for your soul … you asked me … “ .

            A Doctor of Science from John Griffiths, the Pontiklun United Kingdom of Great Britain (UK), in 1999 discovered the “Appeal to the Earthlings” on the Internet, introduced to him the parishioners of St. Paul’s Church, which has pushed people to raise funds for the invitation of Belarusian children Pontiklun in the summer rest and treatment. Also on April 25, 1999 in the Church of St. Paul held Sunday service, dedicated to the 13th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster, during which was read and handed to each parishioner text “Appeal” so that all the inhabitants of the city every year on April 26, the appointed hour to join the common prayer of earthlings.

           Similar prayers are taking place in Germany, where   every year a growing number of religious, environmental and community organizations supporting the action, what report ecologists Johanna Shuhmayer and Susanne Henning of Myunhenhenskogo ecological association ” Mutter Gegen Atomkraft ” ( “Mothers Against Nuclear Energy”), and also one of the first active promoters of the project, professor of the Kiev Polytechnic University Omelchuk OS. Olga attracted to this project my friends in Germany: former Minister of Culture of the GDR Oswald Vutske; Tatyana Ignatovich-Nitsch, who takes care of “Red Cross” in Cologne; Pastor Marian Kvakborner   of Frankfurt; Manfreta Boerle, coordinating the efforts of the association “Man and the Environment”; Mariana Ostrovsku of Braunschweig, which reported that the congregation of the city “Title of Chernobyl” read Pastor Johann Con. In addition, it is connected to the action of its students, as well as a teacher of Ukrainian literature of the Kiev State University. Taras Shevchenko, Doctor of Philology, Anatoly Tkachenko ( http://www.philolog.univ.kiev.ua/php/kafkaf.php?id=3&sid=2 ) , and Doctor of Psychology of Moscow University Adolph Harrache, and Deputy Director of the Library Novosibirsk State University Lyudmila Distanova (http://www.nsu.ru/library/libra.htm ) . Last year, they were joined by teachers and students of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy ( http://www.ukma.kiev.ua/ ) . That is, formed a kind of spiritual connection thread between the university students of American States, Washington, and Wyoming, University of Bergamo, Italy, and students of Russian and Ukrainian universities. In addition, Russia “saving the planet” is actively supported by: a famous writer Grigory Medvedev ( http://library.narod.ru/tetr/tetr.htm ) and author of a cycle of films about Chernobyl (including the film “Threshold”: http : //www.kinokolo.ua/cyclopedia/film.php/1228 ) – Rollan Sergienko, whose latest film “Chernobyl 2001. Will” ( http://filmmaker.iatp.org.ua/sergienko.htm ) ends with “Appeal Chernobyl victims to earthlings. ” The famous film director hopes that the voice of the dead Pripyat will be heard by mankind .  

           In Asia, a project supported by the World Spiritual University of Brahma Kumaris (India) and the Society of the victims of the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima “Juno” (Japan). In addition, the Japanese “hibakusi” together with former Pripyaters of the Kiev club “Countrymen” and their friends from Germany are planning a number of additional projects in the action “The Saved Planet”.   Thai Natchapton Manakisha Pripyat also assures that they are not alone   in the quest to help   the planet – he and his friends wholeheartedly support them.   A chief editor of the “Journal of the Central Tolstoy” Michael Ozmitel Bishkek two years ago published the proceedings of the shares in the pages of the electronic version of the magazine (http://ctaj.elcat.kg/tolstyi/k/k007.shtm ) .

          Students Juha Tolonen (from Australia) and Katya de Brun (from Finland), last year visited the Chernobyl zone and dead Pripyat Pripyat also assured that they, together with their friends will certainly join the action “The Saved Planet”.   Following this news arrived in New Zealand from Solveig Bodley, who said that she, her entire extended family and friends every year April 26 will connect the energy of their hearts with the hearts of all the energy of wanting a better future for our long-suffering planet Earth. April 26, 2004 they were joined by a professor at the University of Dallas US-Romanik Debra Baldwin and her students. And here is how to respond to the action Natalia Fernandez ( http://www.awid.org/go.php?stid=1507 ) – professor at the Free University of Barcelona (Spain): “I would like to translate your work into Spanish, because, in my opinion, it should be known throughout the world as a way to help humanity become truly humane! .. “.  

           So geography “saved the world” increasingly expanding. However, this important event will be full with considerable practical effect only when cover most of humanity. It is clear that this requires the combined efforts of all public, governmental and international organizations and all people of good will.

          Do share weighting Vseplanetarnoy Day of Prayer pick up later this year or in the next few years depends just on you, dear reader! – Tell me about her family, friends and acquaintances to read them, “Appeal to the earthlings.” And 26 April (every year!) From 20.00 to 20.10 Moscow time (17.00 – 17.10 GMT), the heat of the candles, join it – family or friends, or in the temple alone with God and his conscience. Will feel, at least a few minutes, a single God’s family, where everyone is responsible for everyone and for the state of our common home – the Earth! And, God willing, we will deserve a better life.

Kiev, 200 6 g

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Text Appeal https://brians.wsu.edu/2016/12/05/международная-ежегодная-акция-спас/

English with In : http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/chernobyl_poems/appeal.html

Ukrainian with In: http://www.vesna.org.ua/txt/syrotal/spaspl.html

FROM THE VICTIMS OF THE CHERNOBYL CATASTROPHE

By Lyubov Sirota
(April 26, 1986)

People!

Whoever you are–powerful or homeless, servant of God or sinner, well-known scientist, creative artist, or with little education; and wherever you may live–in the vast forest or the desert, in the jungle or on the tundra, in the hot south or the far north, whether in an enormous city or a forgotten small town–hear this Appeal from ancient Kiev, from the epicenter of the worst nuclear catastrophe ever!

Fellow human beings, whoever you are–happy or unhappy, in love or disillusioned with life, healthy or chained to your bed; however bitter and hard your path may have been–you cannot be indifferent to the destiny of our common home, the earth, and to your own future and that of your children and grandchildren.

Look around you! Earthquakes and floods, tidal waves, tornadoes, and fires; ecological catastrophes born of technology; wars, ethnic and religious conflicts; cruelty and aggression; the spread of diseases and a decline in morals–all of this is our own doing. It is a result of our lack of spiritual values. All of us–the people of the Earth–with our excessive behavior, dark thoughts, false ideas, and depraved actions have brought our planet to its last boundary, beyond which is ruin.

And no one will save us, except the Highest. But even the Highest cannot help us unless we repent, and only if we want to help ourselves and every living being on Earth.

We cannot rely on the politicians; in the political arena all noble endeavors seem destined to result in controversy. But we can all together take that first step on the path to Salvation.

Recall, each of you, if there wasn’t just once in your life an occasion when your sincere, heartfelt prayer (or concentrated thought and glorious feeling) helped you in a most wondrous way.

And now imagine what kind of force it will be if all of us–more than 5 billion people on all the continents of the Earth–at one and the same moment lift our eyes to the heavens and send to the Supreme Being, to the Highest Reason of the Universe, a universal, powerful stream of bright energy of Goodness and Love. It will be a first small step toward purifying the space surrounding our planet–its biosphere, as well as the sphere of human action through thought–of the dark destructive energy that is filling the atmosphere of our planet!

Let April 26 from now on become not only a Day of Sorrow and remembrance of the ever growing numbers of victims of Chernobyl, let it also become a Day of Unification of humankind as we face the threat of self-annihilation, and a Day of Hope for our salvation.

So little is asked to make this happen-just do not forget: every year on April 26, from 5 p.m. to 5:10 p.m., Greenwich time [= 9 – 9:10 a.m., US Pacific Daylight-Saving Time; adjust for the time zone where you are]: stop, if you are on the road; wake up, if you are asleep; lay down your weapon, if you are at war; put aside for ten minutes all your worries, problems and sorrows; and find in your heart all the brightest, best feelings of which you are capable.

ï If you are a believer, turn with your sincere, heartfelt prayer to God (in your own language, according to your own traditions); may this include your worship to the Highest, your repentance for voluntary and involuntary sins, a prayer to purify and save your soul, to purify and save our planet and humankind, and a prayer of gratitude to the Lord for his mercy.

ï If you do not believe in God, then devote these ten minutes to good and bright thoughts: remember everything that you love, all those whom you love in this world; sincerely repent of bad behavior; wish that you will become better and purer, that you will love and help those close to you (even if only one living soul); with all your heart, wish for Good, Happiness and Peace to all people on Earth and in the whole Universe.

It’s not difficult, Citizens of the Earth! Do this at the designated hour–April 26 from 9 to 9:10 a.m., PDT. May the bells of churches and cathedrals ring all over the Earth at this hour, may the organs resound and religious songs and prayers come forth; let pure, bright thoughts and feelings stream to the Heavens!

And may the Supreme Being hear us, oh People.

Translated by Birgitta Ingemanson and Gitta Bridges, March 1998