We sat by the window, on small wooden table, in a grey but proud apartment building constructed by the Soviet Union. It was my first time in Latvia and my girlfriend had taken us to visit her retired neighbour couple: Ervins and Inara. They offered us traditional smoked ham, bread, tomatoes and a brew of Turkish Olive tea. We obliged and began sharing stories, asking questions and speaking of aspirations. In a window of silence, Ervins — a former soldier, with a heavy, overbearing stature— begins to recite the following in a pensive tone:
Life is beautiful when it has variety.
But so many dreams are shredded by the torrential storms of fate.
Of course the gravitas of the poetry was lost in translation but it was a wow moment. It sounded very dramatic and inspired. Naturally, we wondered where the quote was from. Was it Tolstoy? Fyodor Dostoevsky? A local poet perhaps? He burst out laughing saying, “Nah it was in a letter my friend’s wife had written to her secret lover!” We all joined in the laughter. When the tears had cleared and the giggles subsided, he explained that though the couple eventually reconciled; his friend recited “those damn words everyday at work for years!”
A funny anecdote but the words reminded me of John Steinbeck's classic novella: Of Mice and Men— it's title was inspired by a poem by Robert Burns.
The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men
Gang aft agley, [often go awry]
An' lea'e us nought [leave us nothing] but grief an' pain,
For promised joy.
Isn't it often the case with dreams?
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