IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MARCO POLO
WELL OF JOB
In present Uzbekistan
A small mosque is and a well
The natives believe that here
Ayub drew water
Ayub is an Arabic name
Means the prophet Job
Who so many disasters
During his life was to see
In the past these areas
Had the name Chorasan
Was visited by Marco Polo
And described thoroughly
SMOKY CITY
Bukhara “smoky city”
In Chorezm or Chorasan
Is known for famous Dervishes
Has the status of a “holy city”
In this city is a donkey monument
The Dervish Nasreddin on him
Sits astride back
Looks at the donkey`s tail
The Dervish dress is strange
It is very dowdy
But words and deeds
Have their weight
Nasreddin advised priests
To build wells
To pour it with cement
Put them upside down
These are the Dervish`s minarets
His proverbs in this style
Have amused many descendants
Also have taught reason
Doctor Avicenna
Also grew up in Bukhara
The famous Dervish Pahlavi
Also was raised in Chorezm
THE TOMB OF JONAH
In Samarkand on the hill
A small temple stands
Muslims as well as Jews
Are headed to this
A huge cemetery next to it
Of three great religious of the world
Jewish and Muslim
Christian lies in the middle
This hill in past
Was called Afrosiab
On this is buried
Jonah from Nineveh – the prophet
Here call him Junus
He is worshipped like he died yesterday
The green material covers
His solid tombstone
Sweets lie, money, gifts
All this from pilgrims
Everyone takes off their sandals
From the source drinks water
PAHLAVI FROM CHIWA
Dervish Pahlavi won
The fight in Indians
Local Radża promised
To give whatever he will ask for
To this country many from Chorezm
Were taken captive
Pahlavi asked for prisoners
To let Radża free them
“What amount should I release?”
Radża asked the Dervish
“How many will be able to fit
Into the skin of a cow” – said
When he got the promise
Asked for skin and knife
He cut out a long strap
And encircled a large field around it
TAMERLAN`S PORTRAIT
“IRON TIMUR’ ordered
His portrait, though he wasn`t handsome
The Ruler of Central Asia
Did it out of curiosity
He sentenced the first artist
Because he made a portrait too nice
The second artist was killed
For a too-scarlet portrait
The third survived by a miracle
Timur had a sick body
Didn`t have one eye
He limped because was lame
In order not to hide these flaws
But to show discreetly
He made a portrait “on a horse”
With a bow in Timur`s hands
Timur aiming at the bow
Narrowed his blind eye
And no one could see the curves
Of Tamerlan`s legs in the saddle
SAMARKAND
When Timur conquered this city
Promised the grace to the burghers
That their blood will not be spilled
If they give up to him
Ten thousand townspeople surrendered
What he swore he did
To “not spill blood”
He buried the prisoners alive
Today Samarkand is beautiful
Tamerlan`s monument
Reigns on the hill of the city
His cemetery is next to this
After his death he was buried
With his family
Above the grave is the Guri mosque
Quite solid
XIEN – XIEN
In China worship being in love
On the seventh of July because
It is a happy date when the day
And month numbers coincide
On the fifth of May every year
Worship in China the boys` celebration
On September ninth
Mention their ancestors
The legend says about a certain case
For lovers` day
That the king let his daughter
Meet her lover once a year
She had another for a husband
Who she didn`t love
The king saw his daughter suffer
He invented a solution
ACUPUNCTURE
The art of acupuncture
Is known in the south
Went to the capital of China
A thousand years ago
Southerners after the defeat
Gave away bronze figures
In which the future doctors
Were to learn to pierce
After some time one of two
Valuable figures was stolen
By a strange twist of fate
One of them is in St. Petersburg
This is how trophies from many countries
Around the world
Accidentally land in Russia
Like some boomerangs
WALL
Beautiful young girl
In the southern province
A few days after her marriage
Lost your young husband
He was arrested
He was soon sent north
To build a great wall
She missed him immensely
She took warm clothes
Baked a lot of sweets
Wandered in a hurry
Guided by the instinct of love
She asked the builders
About her beloved one
When she arrived
For several days he had been dead
According to legend she cried
With such great tears
That she rinsed the body
Deeply rooted in the ground
HEAVENLY LEARNING
An Italian famous astronomer
Named Matteo Ricci
Came to China in his youth
To the Confucian school
He met Chinese langue
All their hieroglyphs
Lectured there astronomy
He was a Jesuit Father
The Emperor who liked science
Liked also the monk
Next to your palace
Built him a beautiful church
He gave permission to teach
The catechism at the emperor`s school
Our church in China was given
The name “Heavenly science”
LAURENSIO RUIZ
Ruiz catechist from Manila
Helped the Dominicans
He was suspected by the authority
Of a common crime
Emigrated to the Missions
Not to waste time
So he went to Japan
There he helped the missionaries
Again he went to court
This time for faith in Jesus
At this time he didn`t run away
Accepted the palm of martyrdom
SAMURAI OUTLAW
One Japanese Prince
Today already is blessed
Resigned from his post
Although was a great governor
When Christ`s enemies
Continued to press on him
He didn`t deny himself
Gave up all your possessions
Gave up everything what he had
Bought a large ship
Several hundred Christians sat with him
Left your homeland
In Manila is a district
In it is the tomb of Samurai
Christians from Japan lived there
They left homeland but kept their faith
PETER LUNGSOD
Catechist Peter Langsod
And thirty companions
Left homeland
To help the Jesuits
They landed on Guam
400 years ago
They visited a lot of villages
Protected the priests
One day when christening
Was taking place on Guam
One of the local chiefs
Was angry and very drunk
Didn`t want to baptize your children
But his wife did it
He decided to take revenge
Threw the spear into the priest
Peter covered him your body
The spear pierced Langsod
Managed to confess
He is the first martyr from the Philippines
JESUIT VITTORIA
Father Vittoria came from
A wealthy noble family
He was in very good relations
With the king of Spain himself
He was appointed guardian
Of the Missions to Guam
Didn`t want to take soldiers
He took many catechists
After four years of work
Many have been converted
Others wanted to take revenge
Were looking for some excuse
The opportunity arose
When Vittoria baptized the children
Lungsod defended his superior
With your body
He confessed him
He was about to die after a while
Being hit by an ax
Today Guam is Catholic
MARIA RICA
On the edge of Manila
Are the Dominican Sisters
They run a retreat house
And beautiful seminary
This place is charming
There are many hills
On one of them stands
A figure of great size
Under the concrete skirt
A large room is hidden
Pilgrims sit here
Listen to the retreat
Stairs are climbing up
Inside a powerful statue
Near “Her Heart”
Chapel and Tabernacle
DLSA – MANILA
De Los Santos Avenues
The longest street in Manila
In this middle is the beautiful
Figure of the Virgin Mary
At Her feet is the Chapel
It looks like a cave
This commemorates the victory
Over the Markos`s regime
Nearby is a monument:
A large group of paupers
Workers and priests
Secular women and nuns
They are holding tools
Hammers, clubs, rosaries
Someone lifts Mary`s statue
Of little size
ANDREW DUNG LAC
Hero of Vietnamese Christians
Priest, poet and doctor
He hid his whole life
Changed your name
Despite the many efforts
Of the missionaries
The authorities hated our church
Persecuted the faithful
Hundreds like Andrew
Have been canonized recently
He became a symbol of the era
And the great Vietnamese sacrifice
VAN – THUAN
Cardinal Francisco Xavier
Was a relative of Vietnam prime
When the communists came
Arrested the family
13 years he was in the cell
Where he couldn`t lie down
Could rest at night
Twisted like an embryo or squatting
In the day he insulted everything
Until half of the sentence
Then he was allowed
To write a letter to the parishioners
He asked for wine and a host
Called it “good medicine”
The commune wasn`t dripping
The Cardinal could celebrate every day
PAUL MIKI
24 crosses
Stood in Nagasaki
7 Jesuits
The rest are Franciscans
Father Paul Miki Japanese
From the height of the Cross
Your last sermon
Delivered “from the bottom of heart”
“I don`t want to make you illusions
No way to heaven
Except in the church of Jesus
Really is nowhere”
AKITA
A nun from Akita
In her humble monastery
Saw on a small figure of Mother of God
Tears in Her eyes
She reported this to the Bishop
He said a miracle and announced
That Mama Mary never
Cries without a reason
Why in the city of Akita
Mary`s tears pouring
Know this best in Japan
Where the Church has been suffering for centuries
Persecutions have passed
But superstitions continue
They say that Christians
Are Japan`s traitors
ANDREW KIM
The first priest was torn off
His head for his faith
He was ordained in Manila
One year he worked in Korea…
His fiend carried his body
To native village
Wandered of that all night
The body folded to the tomb
Today is the Chapel here
Cathedral nearby
Andrew`s Church looks
Like an Egyptian pyramid
NAJU
In Korea The Virgin Mary
Asked not to do abortions
She cried bloody tears
In the small town of Naju
I was - I saw the Chapel
The Bishop forbade pilgrimages
People come privately
I was also privately there
I have been on duty for three days
I felt great in Chapel
I celebrated Mass in a room
Of respect for the Bishop`s will
Volunteers listen
To the Catholic Bishop
Who in the defense of conceived
Your voice didn`t use
There was a beautiful excuse
The hierarch , however, knows better
Volunteers are waiting
Are on duty in a tiny church…
YI BOK
Five students from Beijing
Began to preach in Korea
That what they heard
At Jesuits lectures
Many Buddhist monasteries
Have accepted faith in Jesus
YI BOK son of the Minister
In this matter gave your life
The king of Korea didn`t think
To support a new religion
He urged the Minister
To honor suicide
Yi Bok told his father
To wait with suicide
He himself took a great hunger strike
After two weeks he died
HANTI
“Not holy pots stick”
This is say in Poland
But in faraway Korea
Was exactly the opposite
The first Catholics
Were protected from the police
In mountain settlements
And produced clay pots
To the pots as big as barrels
Chinese cabbage is put
With a lot of peppers
Dish is called KIM-CZI
Thanks to this specialty
Many have survived in mountains
Alongside Taeg one of those
Catholic villages is called Hanti
CHARBEL MAKHLOUF
Szarbel Makhlouf is the favorite
Saint of the inhabitants of Lebanon
He is loved even in Russia
Liked him the Orthodox…
One of Charbel`s miracles
Is fragrant oil which from the coffin
For 200 years accumulates
Pilgrims pour this on the wounds…
Another is photography
50 years after his death
Pilgrims made it to them
Photographer called Charbel`s face…
Older brothers from the monastery
Who still his face remembered
Found that this face
Is consistent with the original
SIMEON STYLITES
The Emperor visited Simeon
He sat on a column
Fad himself with anything
Preached to the pilgrims
The column was small
Simeon was still enlarging it
They say that at the end his life
Column was 60 meters
He moved away from people
He was getting closer to heaven
It was not the Tower of Babel
His langue didn`t get mixed up