(August 7, 2008)

(Yury Ilyakhin, from Russia, is one of eight torchbearers selected  by China Daily for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Torch Relay.)

It happened in the middle of Beijing July night, about 3.00 AM.  The conditioner was making woo-oo-ing sounds, already too tired to fight against hot and humid outside air, I stood up, trying not to wake up my wife Katya, put on my Chinese silk pajamas and rushed to the dinner room.

I hurried to write down the words, which came to my mind a minute ago, when I was sleeping: “Hi, Huanghe! Do you see the torch?” Faster, faster, Yury, please don’t forget the words! Why the words are in English, not in Russian or in Chinese? Oh, it doesn’t matter, I shall think about it later…

I am not a poet. I am Russian, 53 years old, not a romantic person at all. It is difficult to be a romantic for a general manager running an information company with more than 300 professionals of classified advertisement in Beijing, Shanghai and Harbin for 9 years.

I never thought in my life that some day I would write poetry. The poem – if I dare to call it a poem – came to me in my dream by itself, it did not ask me, if I wanted it or not. Quite strange!  

Yury Ilyakhin attends the torch relay in Lanzhou, Gansu province, July 7, 2008. [chinadaily.com.cn]

A couple of days before that night, on July 7, I ran the most important 50 meters in my whole life as an Olympic torchbearer. I had the honor to take part in a torch relay in China’s Gansu province, in the city of Lanzhou, on the bank of Huanghe – Yellow River, at the edge of Gobi desert. When I was running with the Olympic torch with sacred fire I had a feeling that I was embracing the whole world.

I could never imagine, how much love and happiness could my soul contain, when I was running under hot wind from Gobi, cooled a little bit by the fast stream of the Mother Huanghe river, passing through thousands of happy people, waving at me and shouting: “Jia you!” (Come on!).

I was not alone in this feeling of overwhelming happiness. When I returned back to the bus full of torchbearers, all of us were like kids, laughing, shouting something to the smiling crowds beside the road, clapping hands. I said to my friends, torchbearers: ”Guys! This is a unique bus - a bus of absolutely happy people!”

In the middle of July I returned to Beijing from Lanzhou. The feeling of joy and happiness never did leave me since that day of the torch relay. The feeling is still so strong that sometimes I want to shout to the whole world: “People! Please take a look around! The sky is so blue! The Olympic games came to China, bringing so much fun, so many kind emotions, so many sunny feelings, making our small world a little bit friendlier, a little bit happier!”

So, now I know, why all of a sudden I wrote a poem – because I am in love, in love with China, my second motherland, in love with all the people around, in love with the fantastic Olympic games! So much sun in my soul! To be a torchbearer it is like to become a wonder maker: you want the world to change for the better, and you are changing for the better yourself.

On August 2 2008, Beijing Hand To Hand Choir gave a concert, dedicated to the Olympic torchbearers, in the end the choir sang a song: “Hi, Huanghe!” With my words! Let me tell you a small secret: my wife Katya is the conductor of the Hand To Hand Choir and she wrote the music for the song:

 Hi, Huanghe! Do you see the torch?                                     

Hi Huanghe!

Do you see the torch?

I am bearing Olympic fire!

Peace and joy is my desire,

Smiling faces are like flowers,

Happiness in every step!

 

Hi Huanghe!

Do you see the torch?

Friends and family are all together!

Gobi desert – thanks for weather,

The sky is blue, the clouds all white,

Happiness in every step!

 

Hi Huanghe!

Do you see the torch?

I am flowing along your stream!

Really came true my dearest dream,

I am bearing Olympic fire,

Happiness in every step!