Miž dvoma svitamy

Ja tut. Ne sam. Ja v'їxav u žyttja
Ne na baskim, ale bodaj na koni.
Atlantyka mij szljax do vorottja
Nadovgo zaxovala u bezdonni.

Ja tam buv sered bezliczi oblycz -
Koly pryєmnyx, a koly - nijakyx.
Ja tam griszyv, vszanovujuczy kytcz
Jak formu vyžyvannja u kloakax.

Teper ja tam ne є. Nemov i ne bulo
Mene nikoly u šodennim dzvoni
Svjatogo... Bože mylý, jak ž jogo?..
Jak szvydko pam'jatj tamosznja xolone!

Teper ja tut. Sljozamy unoczi
Pryxodjatj sny, i czužynecjka mova,
Nemov toj tatj nezrymo kraduczysj,
Mene vže zodjagla ú svoї okovy.

Czy tut, czy tam... Nadovgo? Nazavždy?
Ja zalyszav mij kraj, i vin prošavsja
Blagoslovennjam poszepky: "Idy";
I zovsim vže neczutno: "Povertajsja".

Dmytrij Kublycjký 31/07/2003

Мудрость от Игоря Иртеньева (не Украину ли он имел ввиду?)

Такого кризиса ещё не видел свет:
П...ц уж близится, а кризиса всё нет.

Of “high end” singles and their match-makers

I was in my car, radio, as always, tuned to NRP. A woman began to speak about her career in matchmaking business. OK, for those few who still don’t know: matchmakers are the people who get paid for setting up other people for blind dates. There’s more to it, of course, for many of the matchmakers claim what they do has become a science (or, at least, a subscience in the area of psychology) and they, of course, are all scientists.

I don’t know if it is true and, truth be told, I don’t care. What made me listen to the very end was the way that woman was speaking of herself, her business, her clients, how much money they make and how much money matchmakers make.

She was not speaking. She was what I call producing the words. Of course, she – like, I guess, most people on the radio – had some kind of prewritten text in front of her. But what was completely absent in her voice was the passion. As if she was speaking about rolls of paper or pounds of potato.

I sell houses for the living. And yet – I dare to hope – I speak passionately about real estate when engaged in a respective conversation or even a monologue. The matchmaker woman on the radio was speaking as if she just needed to finish her text as soon as possible to pass a boring test.

Another thing that surprised me was her approach. I will skip the part where she was wasting words on describing her divorce attorney career, her high-end clientele and how expensive her time is. Her approach – and I have no doubt matchmakers make sure people keep thinking that way – was that her high-flying clients are too busy to find their soulmates. Thus, they need somebody like her. Especially, if they had a date, didn’t like it, and now need another date.

I have a short advice for all people who use matchmakers: you need to look in the mirror and ask the person you see there: Whom exactly are you looking for? A one (ok, ok, make it two, or three or whatever) night stand or somebody you’d want to spend the rest of your life with? Because if it is the latter, you need to devote time to your search – and not necessarily paying a matchmaker to do the legwork for you. If you are too busy doing something else, guess what: you make wake up one morning, may be even next to somebody, look through the window of your high-end penthouse and realize that your best years are gone and you are so bitterly alone in this world. And no money can ever change that.

If you truly want to find your soulmate or love of your life, whatever you call it, you need to make time – especially if you don’t have it! Because if something in this world is perfectly natural for human beings, it is being happy.