Tag: Short Stories and Poems

“Repentance” by Bedros Tourian

Chris KhatschLeave a comment

Bedros Tourian (1851-1872) was an Armenian poet and playwright. This is my translation of “Repentance” from Armenian to English. It was written in 1871, a short time before his death.

Repentance

The end of a day
Yesterday when in cold sweats
I was taking a somber nap,
And two faded roses
Were burning on my cheeks,
Undoubtedly a deathlike pallor
Was glimmering on my forehead
And I experienced a moment of death,
I heard my mother’s sob…
I opened my drowsy eyes,
I saw my mother’s tears…
Oh, true compassion
Pearls false and fake…
My mother had a bottomless pain,
I was that pain…
Ah, a storm formed in my head…
I let this dark torrent out…
Oh, forgive me, my God,
I saw my mother’s tears…

Paradiso Clasico Cigar Review. Beirut, Lebanon.

Have a Cigar: Paradiso Clasico Robusto

Chris KhatschLeave a comment

Name: Paradiso Clasico Robusto

Country: Nicaragua

Shape: Parejo

Size: Robusto (5 1/2 inches x 50)

Strength: Medium to Full

Notes of coffee, dark chocolate, pepper, and bread. I lit this Paradiso cigar just to smoke something while I worked overtime. It was close to midnight, it had been a long day, and I needed to reward myself while working. I couldn’t wait anymore.

Work — an anaconda wrapped around me,
and I cannot withstand the constriction coil.
Work — labor,
toil.
God, I’m so tired,
dehumanized,
and bored.

Oh, I need a cigar.

Economy — an invisible monster
that feeds off time,
men’s finite amount of time.

Labor —
it is the “productive” digestion of time.

Laborer — also someone whose fingertips peck the keyboard
for more than eight hours a day
for money.

Employee — one who unknowingly worships Ponos,
one who offers himself as a sacrifice
on the altar of business growth.

Salary — like digested food is shit,
digested time is money.

Capital — shit that multiplies itself.
It is like bad bacteria.

Money — “Eat shit and see you tomorrow, buddy.”

Oh, I need a cigar.

And, well, I am working on my laptop now.
Look at me working now.
It’s almost midnight, and every task
is another log in the flame of fury.

Oh, I need a cigar.

Cumpay Corona Cigar Review.

Have a Cigar: Cumpay Corona

Chris KhatschLeave a comment

Name: Cumpay Corona

Country: Nicaragua

Shape: Parejo

Size: Corona (5 1/2 inches x 42)

Strength: Mild

I turn my back on the sun and light a cigar.
The sunset and the sea mean nothing to me.

I am overwhelmed with thoughts.
There’s always so much work to do,
always so much work left
for me to do.

It’s like my mind can never leave
the workplace.
My mind can never punch out.

I’m on standby all the time,
forever ready to receive an email
outside working hours.

No matter how efficient I am,
I will never accomplish enough
to deserve a good break.

I draw and blow white smoke
as businesses live and die.

Ghosts of CEOs and COOs slither out of my mouth,
and they all look like the man
in Edvard Munch’s The Scream.
They all look the same to me.

I want to scream, too,
but the neighbors may think I’m crazy.
So,
I turn my back on the sun and light a cigar.