Flowers for Bulgakov

Poetry: 2002 #9

There is no greater vice than cowardice

– Mikhail Bulgakov

You made Christ mortal,

the Devil a hero and a savior.

You sang of love,

and called adultery by that exalted name.

You were in bonds,

but your offenses made you free.

Captive to neither atheism nor religion,

you listen to the Romantics at last.

And we who have the leisure

rejoice with you, certain now

that manuscripts don’t burn.

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Photo by Ahmed Zayan

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