ISTVÁN DEMJÉN (1933-2008)

poet, painter, historian of education

“To carve just a single word
Onto the wall of time
And do the puzzle
Of man’s human nature “

István Demjén

BIOGRAPHY

Born in 1933 on the farm of Káptalan belonging to the town of Alsóábrány in Borsod County. He attended primary and secondary school in Alsóábrány. He studied at the Training-College in Sárospatak where he got a degree in teaching in 1955. Later on he studied at the Teachers’ Training College in Eger then in Nyíregyháza. His majors were art and geography in Eger and pedagogy in Nyíregyháza. Afterwards he went to the Eötvös Lóránt University where he got a ph-d and a lecturer degree in pedagogy.

He taught both junior and senior classes, was a headmaster and a school-inspector for more than twenty years. He was engaged in the field of the history of pedagogy for several decades. He was doing researching in the calvinist popular schools and was collecting school history documents, artifacts for decades. He offered his mammoth collection that was declared a public collection by the Ministry of Culture and Education.

The collection was housed by the parish of Szendrő. Till his retirement István Demjén himself worked as the governor of the collection.

He summerized his research recordings in books. The first book was published in 2000 titled ‘ Teaching in Calvinist Popular Schools, in B.A.Z. County between 1565-1670 ‘ Book II. and III. are also finished and are about to be published.

As a child István was nurtured on tales. This resulted in trying his wings in story writing and composing poems at a very early age. He got stuck to poems though. His poems were published in newspapers, antologies, primary school books and later in volumes.

As a child he was very keen on drawing and painting. He had more than fifty exhibitions on his paintings. He very much liked putting his works on display in little villages and present them especially to kids and old people. He learnt the art of painting from János Jakuba, Ernő Nagy and Zsigmond Imre.

As a teacher he was stuck to the village. ” I was glued to the trees, the dawns, the sunsets and to the worries carved on the faces of village people and also to their sweet delights in life. All this was stamped into my heart, my soul, my mind and my hand. These scars and marks serve as the very subject of my paintings” – he said.

When he got retired he moved to the bottom of the Bükk hills and worked and lived in the little village of Cserépfalu. He went on with his research work, composed poems and painted. He established the Hungarian Comenius Society’s B.A.Z. County Research Group and he started the county’s cultural periodical : ‘ Education and Pedagogy’.
He was member of the Department of the Educational History of the Hungarian Pedagogical Society, the Hungarian Comenius Society, the Eötvös József Club of Hungarian Pedagogy Museums. He worked for the Matyóföld Creators and Friends of Art Club and the Literature Café Club. He ran the ‘ Gang Gallery’.

He was working on his next volume of poems when he passed away.

István Demjén: Harang hangjára énekelnek

Nézz csak körül errefelé is Uram!
itt, ahol életem nekidől egy fának,
gyere, nézz szét,
el sem tévedhetsz, emberek várnak,
akiknek hátuk a domb hajlása,
homlokuk térdepel a földön:
könyörögnek,

a harangszó már kiült a dombra,
tódul a falu, mennek föl bicegve,
mellé ülnek:
a harang hangjára énekelnek,
énekelnek, nem sírnak,
itt az emberek csak a
pincék fölötti dombon:
a temetőre hajolva sírnak,

gyere Uram, ülj le te is
oda melléjük s láthatod,
ott lent már mosakodik a patak,
hogy ragyogjon arca, majd ha rádnéz,
a kövekben, gödrökben bukdácsolva
mennek az utak, hogy várjonak
az első háznál, ahová
gyökeret-eresztett botokra
támaszkodva botorkálnak,
csoszognak, sántikálnak eléd a vének

hisznek itt az emberek,
tudják, hogy jössz és lesz másnap,
tán még tovább is . várják:
söprik a szobákat, az udvarokat,
hogy tiszta legyen a holnap,

az alkony ébredő csillagok alá
feszül, vackol, bújik a falu,
csapatokba verődve járja
a csend a sovány utcákat,
egy kis ablakon túl, bent,
könnyező fény szipogva
az asztalnál gyertyát éget,
a harangszó a toronyból kiált:
elszállt, elment ismét egy fáradt,
ráncokba burkolózó öreg lélek,
elszállt, elszállt,
mint varjú, gubbaszt
a csöndben a gyász,

lefekszik minden, behunyja
apró szemét az falu összes háza,
szemhéjak alatt emberek vágya,
száraz füvek az árkokban elnyúlva
ódnak a hajnalt várva,

én állok a falu-széli
patakhídon, a hold alatt:
bekiáltani a házak közé
a gyökerekbe-akadt-lábúaknak,
nézz csak körül errefelé is Uram!
köztünk, a hegyen, a kertek alján,
ahol már hamvad a nyár
s a fákon tüzét most az ősz
szítja, gyújtja, jelez,
jöhet a tél, hallgathatjuk
ép meséit a kikeletről,

gyere Uram, lássad, barna barázdákban
megyek a dombon a Nap felé,
karolom őseimet,
szólok hozzájuk, ültetem őket
eke-vetette rögökre,
szedek nekik fényes sugarakat,
égben fürdött őszi virágot,
s kérek fejükre sárga
levelektől aranykoronát.