by Pavel Chichikov
The underground in Moscow
The empire was falling
A table in the Metro
The passage run between
The Ploshchad Revolutzii
And the street beside the Kremlin
A simple man behind it
With rolls of holy pictures
The Virgin of Kazan
God's blessed holy mother
The Christ Child in her arms
Their dark untroubled eyes
Victorious in love
We too suffered much
Love torn from loving touch
As are the limbs of saints
Torn away from bodies
But love in jubilee
Will meet with yours in heaven
Love beyond all death
You will live to see
He raised his arms to bless
All the bitter crowds
The heedlessness of sorrow –
This loving Child of light
I touch now on His face
To ask for His compassion
The blessing of the truth
That Love outlives all dying
O gold within a frame
O sweet familiar passion
A Mother and a Child
Revealed where I can see them
Icon of the candle
The martyr and the candle
All exists in you
And all in you forever
