Ortamezar - Ivan Theofilov

The neighborhood

with its shady provincial courtyards

next to the hot watermelon fields,

the draw wells with circulating horses,

with drowsy shabby streets and

                                      its enchanted

autocratic

                                                              church.

The neighborhood with Turkish customs and a

synagogue.

Wonderful Palestine of the Jews

with small shops

                  that sell:

                          chewing gum,

                                  baked chickpea,

                                           nebet-sheker,

                                                   crunchy caramels.

The neighborhood with fear and suffering,

where stars were shining in broad daylight

(as in the lives of saints)

on the coats of poor Jews;

with the crow extermination project,

with the air raids and the bomb shelters,

with the big eyes of my childhood ...

They shot, on our tiled roof, Sami,

uncle Jacob's son, brother of Becca and Esther,

the red-haired twins. Later we heard

that he called himself Angel ...

And this blood-stained and meek angel

perched on the roof of our house. My grandmother

made the sign

of the cross. And I saw the crows that had survived the

cleansing operation.

The sunset was glorious! My father whispered:

– What a pity! In the Jacobs'

window a Hannukah with seven

versicolored candles was burning.

                      It was Passover.

To Vassil Urumov

---

Ivan Theofilov (born 1931) Bulgaria

Translated by Zdravka Mihaylova

Source: International Poetry in English Translation

Ortamezar is the old Jewish and Turkish neighborhood in the town of Plovdiv.