The Tsar’s Path
Russia. A railway carriage. Abdication.
All around, treason, cowardice and deceit.
A merchant’s house. Captives of revolution.
Golgotha. Crucifixion. A fog-bound street.
A road. In the forests dark a sudden glade.
Beneath the stars burns a bonfire full of dread,
Where a half-drunken murderer, unafraid,
Flings an axe, crimson with the blood of the dead.
Daybreak. Resurrection. Prayers are made.
And crowns for faithfulness from heaven descend.
The people. Armies mass. A battle is laid.
Victory and glory. Sovereign might. Then the end.
Fr Andrei Logvinov, 1992 (Translation by Fr Andrew).
