If I am found unworthy
To enter the kingdom of peace,
At least remember, Lord, that I closed the gates
Of the old graveyard more than once –
As the wind tossed and banged them
And did not let the dead rest easy
After the labors of the summer and fall.
You understood their weariness once –
Their hot harvest, their cold treshing.
Those people left life calm and gentle.
Though they died in pain, they lie
With placid faces in the ground
Beneath their treasured wormwood trees.
With placid faces and tranquil hearts
They placed their heads on the fresh-cut sod
And died believing in eternal peace,
And so those graveyard gates were banged by wind –
So hard that in the ground
The heaviest coffin lids were lifted
And the crumbled dust in the coffins moved.
Lord, I rejoice that I braced shut
The graveyard gates with a rock from the road. –
Give me peace in your kingdom,
Give me eternal peace!
(Leonardas Andriekus)
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