“Dear Valechka, Our Friendly Classmate” (Happy Birthday Poem to Valentina)

Not in a single fantasy dream, not even as in “Nella Fantasia” by Amira Willighagen, which is sung here:

one can imagine the following: two thirteen year girls from one and the class Rimma Levchenko and Valya Filina, both loving to compose the verses, wrote one poem together about their summer vacations and brought it for the appraisal to the local newspaper just in case, allowing to be published. To their disappointment, their poem was not liked. Nevertheless, the love for poetry both girls remain for the whole life, and now 63 years later, Rimma writes Birthday Poem dedicated to Valya, and Valya translates it into English and put it to this blog. Here it is:

“Dear Valechka, our friendly classmate,Rimma

Long-time living now in Canada,

With the soul of Russia – so great,

As if a multi-voice choir in Cantata.

All of us admire you a lot,

For having energy as a volcano,

You suppose to make a plot,Emma

In advance like music for a soprano.

Janko seems to have a soul of Russia, the same as you.

How could you not have such a likeness,

And have a long lasting relationship? Is it not true?

Happy Birthday to you, our Dear,Badek

Let all your dreams come true,

Wishing love, happiness, health real,

Enough years for both of you.” (translated from Russian)

And more interesting is even the fact how the classmates met each other.

Rimma was always an inquisitive person, read a lot, watched TV, listened to the latest News So, she bought a local newspaper and saw an article “Memoirs in English by a Russian Canadian” written by Vladimir Silaev on October 3, 2003. Rimma sent her own copy of this article by this my birthday, 13 years later. In the article it was told about my book “To the Horizon and Beyond” which I presented to the English teacher Valentina Leonidovna Troshina of Bryansk school #39 with the inscription: “From Valentina to Valentina. Read and enjoy. With love and respect, Calgary, Canada”.

Rimma called to this school to find out whether it was me or not, her classmate, poetry lover. Since that moment we met each other in Bryansk, and kept on our meetings since 2011 each year by Skype.

At this point I would like to give a musical gift to my classmates.

Listen to the Best Voice of Russia of Dina Garipova.

Secondly, I wish to congratulate Rimma and Emma on their birthdays on the Eleventh of March, all the best to you, my dearest friends!

Thanks for your inspiration for me, for your touching life stories, for your openness and sincerity, cares and wonderful meals you are preparing to greet each other, for news which you always share with me, for everything I am thanking you from the bottom of my heart. Happiness to all of you, my dear friends.

Listen to Turetsky’s Choir:

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