Poem
The Uses of Truth.
Alexander Androv
Translated from the Bulgarian · Употреба на истината.
Some claim it can be done.
Others swear there’s no way
truth can be sold.
God, “God forbid!”
Some mix it in with chaff,
others raise it in a hotbed,
truth — so they can sell it.
God, “God forbid!”
Some get up early.
They pick it in the foothills.
Truth: “Sold.”
God, “God forbid!”
Two even came to blows
over the truth about the sheepskin.
Two others hid it away.
God, “God forbid!”
They sowed the seed of truth.
All that came up was the knife
they had flayed it with.
God, “God forbid!”
Some claim it can be done.
Others swear there’s no way
truth can be known.
God, “God forbid!”
1989