(A Poetry based on the story ‘ God Sees the Truth – But waits’ by Leo Tolstoy – 1872)
Part 1: ‘Ivan Dmitrich Aksionov’
In a central Russian town called ‘Vladimir’, there lived ‘Ivan’,
A merchant with two shops and had a house of his own.
‘Ivan Dmitrich Aksionov’ was his full name,
He often used to drink in excess and show up in tough games.
Handsome man, he was with his blond and curly hair,
He had a passion for fun and frolic in the market fair.
His tipsy drinking habits and the playful furor and fracas,
All of them came to end as he was married to a lass.
After then he was more for, less on liquor to drink,
But sat and slammed the guitar, all the time he loved to sing.
Part 2: Wife had a bad dream
His wife by then had three little beautiful children
One was at her breast and the other two could run
One day he was to leave to ‘Nizhny’ for a fair to come,
But his wife stood with their children and tried to stop him.
She said she had a bad dream that was hard to say,
Where Ivan returned after long and his hair would then be grey.
Aksionov laughed and said it was a sign of luck to come,
Hence would sell all the goods and bring gifts to his dear ones.
He rejected her fear and her request not to go but stay,
So he said goodbye and on his horse, he drove away.
Part 3: The Journey to ‘Nizhny Novgorod’
After a long day’s journey, when the sun was fully set,
Ivan found an inn where he wished to take some rest.
There he met a friend, a merchant he knew since long,
They had some tea and talked about all the days gone.
Then Ivan Aksionov sang some songs with his guitar that he played,
They wished they had more time as they enjoyed the stay.
They said good night and for some sleep, each went to his room,
It was a memorable cold night before the hot sun could bloom.
Ivan got up early from bed, much before the dawn,
To resume his journey before the sun could get strong.
Didn’t wish to disturb his friend in the other room,
Though he thought and hoped to meet him somewhere soon.
He saddled his horse and met the owner of the inn,
Thankfully paid his bills and bid goodbye to him.
Part 4: The arrest of Aksionov
After long hours later when Ivan had moved miles away,
He rested in an inn to feed his horse for the day.
There came a ‘troika’ from which some officers showed up,
Asking him the details of all his whereabouts.
Ivan Dmirtich Aksionov told them who he was,
From where and why he headed to ‘Nizhny Novgorod’
The officers asked him about his previous night stay,
Asked for his reason for such early time to vacate.
Ivan truly answered all the questions that were asked,
To check his baggage an officer went close to his horse.
Disturbed Ivan asked them all why he was questioned,
They told that the man last night was murdered by him.
A dagger with the stains of blood was pulled out of the bag,
Ivan was framed guilty of the murder was so sad.
He was held red-handed in a shocking state of mind,
A dreadful blow, Ivan was lost without the words to find.
His innocence was known to none but the guilt was shown by proof,
It was like a hit on his head by the ‘bolt from the blue’
Ivan shivered with fear and was in shock of his ruthless fate,
He fumbled for the words and could not prove his innocence in any way.
The police officer tied him by his arms and took him to the station nearby,
He was questioned but had no answers to disprove it was his crime.
Part 5: Enquiry about Aksionov
The people in Vladimir were asked about Ivan,
They told that he used to drink and fool around the people in the town.
They also told they thought ‘he was a changed man after marriage’,
But Ivan seemed not to have changed much from his foolish courage
Ivan put his head down and didn’t know what to say,
He whispered within himself and slowly started to pray.
His wife came close to him, she wept but could not speak,
She was depressed that the case against him was very weak.
Moments of anguish put her into unbearable shock and tears,
She spoke to him with no hopes and she was trembling with fear.
She appealed to the Czar and pleaded her husband is innocent,
But her plea was rejected as Ivan was proved to be the felon.
The cops came to a conclusion that he was guilty of the crime,
Ivan was the mute witness for his ruthless changing time.
Then she stopped sobbing and looked straight into his eyes
And said ‘But why Ivan? Why did you do this heinous crime?’
Aksionov heart was beating like a death drum in a losing war,
His palm was sweating with fear in a hopeless misery of all,
He was dead as a doornail and found himself rejected,
Answered no questions even as he was interrogated.
He was sentenced to be imprisoned in the Siberian jail for life,
It was not a punishment more than what he heard from his wife.
Ivan’s lips could only say the prayers and plead to God his plight,
‘Cause he fervently believed ‘God only knows the truth, but waits’
Part 6; Ivan Aksionov in the prison
Ivan became an introvert in the dim light of the prison,
He spoke very little and prayed in the jail and had no mission.
He was kind to all the inmates and as the days passed by,
By all those in the prison and the officers, he was most liked.
Ivan was known to them as an honest and kind man,
To make or mend the shoes and kill the time was all he can.
He became lean and lanky and looked old with no interest,
His only happy moment was when he was called to sing in the church.
Part 7 : Arrival of new inmates
Time passed by and after twenty-six full long years,
There came a set of criminals brought by the officers.
The old inmates rounded up all the newcomers,
And asked them who, why and what on earth they were.
One by one they spoke to the crowd as the others heard them come,
With different stories of crime and all the fouls, they’ve done.
One of them was Makar Semyonich, the criminal unlawful,
He was there for stealing a horse from one other staple.
Makar :
“I told them, I didn’t steal the horse,
I was only untying the knot
Of the horse to free it from
The sled to which the horse was bound.
I told them, the owner was a friend in fact,
But they said they caught me in the act.
And then the cops brought me here,
To be behind the bars for years.
I’ve done things worse than this, you know?
But I was not caught for any of those,
Maybe I should be here now,
That I was brought into somehow”
So said Makar and smiled to himself,
Ivan in a voice dense and down,
Asked him if he knew the Aksionovs,
Since he was from the Vladimir town.
Makar:
“Know them? Of course, I do know,
All of them are known in town.
Aksionovs are now so rich,
But they did have a lifetime glitch.
Their father was a criminal feared,
Was put in the Siberian prison here.
He killed a merchant, then for money,
And the way he was caught was just funny.
The murder took place in an inn,
He was caught red-handed out,
Far away from the place of crime,
Poor man, it was his bad time.
Aksionov looked straight into his eyes,
Heard his mind say ‘ he’s the guy’.
Asked him further if he believed,
That Aksionov would have killed in greed.
Makar:
“Who knows if he had the greed or not,
He was known to be there right on the spot,
He who had the knife in stains of blood,
Should be the killer of course” he said
“It must have been him around,
In whose bag the knife was found!
If someone else had hidden the knife,
He’s not guilty unless he is handcuffs bound.
The law holds him as guilty, who bears the proof,
For they spent the previous night, in the inn under one roof.
It can’t be that someone else had done
And left the bleeding knife hidden
Inside a bag, under the head,
Of a person sleeping in the bed.
If that was the case while he tried to hide,
The act would have shaken the person that night.”
Now without a doubt, it was clear to Aksionov,
Makar is the guy who changed his life long before.
Makar:
‘Why do you ask grandpa’ did you know them too,
And to be here in this prison, what the hell did you do?’
Ivan Aksionov
“I’m here because I had to be
It’s God’s decision made for me”
Said Ivan and wiped his eyes,
Walked out from there as he replied.
He was angry first but did not show,
Sad in spite was happy now
That at last he was able to see the one,
He longed to see for what he’d done.
Makar was told the story then,
By other inmates who answered him,
With full of a surprise then Makar felt,
What a wonder, that the person he met.
Part 8 : Makar tries to Escape
A fortnight later in the prison cell,
In the darkness dim and deep as hell,
Ivan spent his sleepless night,
He felt someone was digging right
Beneath the wall to his left,
He found Makar making a pit.
Makar saw Ivan as Ivan saw
He pulled Ivan close and whispered off,
“Hold yourself Grandpa now,
I have to escape from here somehow,
Let me make the way down to go,
This sand I remove in my boot and throw.
I do this every night a bit,
Till I make a hole to frisk.
Do not tell the Sargent there
Else I would kill you, beware”
Ivan Aksionov
“I don’t wish to escape and go,
You had killed me long before.
If I’m asked I would tell or not,
God will show the way he’s got.”
Said Ivan and rolled his side,
Went to sleep and closed his eyes.
One other day when the cops came in rounds,
There was a heap of mud they found.
They got the doubt of a culprit in,
There among the prisoners within.
A search was done in the campus cells,
A commonplace was found dug well.
Sure someone did try to scoot,
None came forth, to tell the truth.
A hole dug was clearly known,
But the person behind was still unknown.
All the prisoners were asked to fall,
In files in order to answer the call.
The Governor asked them who did do,
Warned them to come and speak the truth.
None came forward, they didn’t know,
Is all that they said, in every row.
Then Aksionov was asked to tell,
And his word would be the final.
Cause he was known as good by heart,
By his values and morals from the start.
“Aksionov, You have ever been a nice man as we all know,
What you say should be the truth and may God be with you.
Tell the truth, Ivan, You are the right person to tell,
For you won’t tell a lie hence I’ll take your word as final.”
Said the man in power to give a judgment for the culprit,
But Aksionov said that he knew nothing about the pit.
Ivan Aksionov
“Not always the witness can be proved to be right,
As none has seen what happened, no one may be right.
I shall not tell what would be a judgment for a crime,
What if what I speak would not be the truth in line?
God is there who watches and he knows the person involved,
He would come to punish and the problem would then be solved.
He has His way of making things straight,
God only knows the truth, but he waits.”
So said Ivan as he wept with grief and left the place,
The case was then dismissed for the culprit was not traced.
Part 9; Mayar’s confession
Late at night, Mayer walked slowly to Ivan
Knelt before him, recalled and confessed all the bygones.
“Oh Ivan, I’m sorry for what I’ve done for you,
I’m a criminal who killed not one but two.
It was me who did the crime and was about to kill you too,
But I heard a noise out in the inn, hence I left the place and moved.
How kind of you to set me free but I’m now guilty as hell can be,
All that you have suffered, should have been on me.
It’s not late even now, I can reach out and admit,
Please come with me and let me see that your pains are rid.”
Mayer held Ivan’s hand and wept in remorse,
Ivan desisted to go with him for he didn’t have a goal
To free himself from the jail, he had nowhere to go,
‘What is the use?’ he thought and thus his mind became mellowed.
Parts 10; Release of Ivan Aksionov
Mayer went and confessed and he begged to free Aksionov.
The governor wrote an order to free him from the house.
The guards opened the prison and shook Ivan lying on the bed,
But Ivan Dmrich Aksionov was resting in peace, he was dead.
True that He has His way of making things straight,
For God only knows the truth, Yeah, but he waits.”