A Double-headed Eagle over the Kremlin

何威廉

A Double-headed Eagle over the Kremlin
By William He

With his penetrating eyes.
The clinching interlocking claws, a gyrating wheel.
He comes galloping down,
Leaves the portrait of a double head,
Tumbling loop around spire and silent reciprocating dive.
The clustered lamps of Heaven that burn.
An illusion in a flash.
Ivan IV lost on the moon of calico birch.
Ringing with the silhouette.
On the Cathedral of the Annunciation,
Cold quanta flow downwards from the sky-watering can.

One casts wavy shadows upon the walls.
The soaring arches lift him up on high,
Angel's heart suffered a chilly jet.
The steeples faded and seized by tarnished red flares.
Solitary lights burning dimly in the palace,
Man's divinity alive in stone,
He stands at the edge of a purple twilight this night.
He is hearing the moans before the dawn.

He can discern the trend.
He cautiously stretches talons.
This is not the foretaste of a harvest worth,
Piercing eyes and overflowing sense,
The characters wrung out like dishrags from time to time.
The peace garlands with the olive-bough,
Gentle breath calms untimely storms.
He soberly contemplates the earth.
A soaring glory and a grief,
In the sacred triangle curve.

兰陵王 克里姆林宫上空的鹰
作者：何威廉

寸眸凸。
忽掣云骞速滑。
腾如电，
金色双头，
越塔钟宸阙回斡。
星移紫阁歇。
时霎。
伊凡对月。
追斜影。
报喜教堂，
旋曲时空逆光脱。

缤纷起仓猝。
恰卷拱圆门，
天使伤别。
湿灵前圣母枞叶。
奈路灯昏暗，
鬼题孤独，
茫茫幻象夜色贴。
记旧年时节。

俯察。
爪钩蹑。
看客老红场，
车攒戈堞，
半妆狐兔轻飘拂。
想谁散谁逢，
消禳周折。
地迥风疾。
两惆怅，
五沮屈。


Notes:
“Double-headed eagle”: In Russia, the double-headed eagle was always accompanied by another national symbol: a horseman slaying a serpent with a spear, portrayed on a shield. The horseman is a symbol of Russia’s capital, Moscow, and usually represents St. George the Victorious.
“Ivan IV”: Ivan the Terrible, also called Ivan IV, (born August 25, 1530, Kolomenskoye, near Moscow (Russia)--died March 18, 1584, Moscow), grand prince of Moscow (1533--84) and the first to be proclaimed tsar of Russia (from 1547). His reign saw the completion of the construction of a centrally administered Russian state and the creation of an empire that included non-Slav states.
“Cathedral of the Annunciation”: The Annunciation Cathedral had been the private chapel of the Moscow great princes and tsars for centuries.The sacred relics, i.e. the relics of the saints, most venerated icons, old books and precious vessels had been kept at the cathedral since the olden days. The archpriest of the Annunciation Cathedral was traditionally the confessor of the tsar.
“Red flares”: The Soviet Union left its mark on the Kremlin. Many buildings would ultimately be destroyed after the Bolshevik uprising, and in 1947, Joseph Stalin would paint the Kremlin’s walls communist red.
“Triangle curve”: The existing Kremlin walls and towers were built by Italian masters over the years 1485 to 1495. The irregular triangle of the Kremlin wall encloses an area of 275,000 square metres (68 acres). Its overall length is 2,235 metres (2,444 yards), but the height ranges from 5 to 19 metres, depending on the terrain.