poet

Entries Tagged as 'poet'

Poetry in Translation (C I): William Stafford (1914 – 1993) – “A Story That Could Be True”, “O poveste aproape adevărată”

December 28th, 2011 · No Comments · International Media, Poetry, quotations, Translations

Poetry in Translation (C I): William Stafford (1914 – 1993) – “A Story That Could Be True”, “O poveste aproape adevărată”
They miss the whisper that runs
any day in your mind,
“Who are you really, wanderer?”–
and the answer you have to give
no matter how dark and cold
the world around you is:
“Maybe I’m a king.”

Ei nu-ţi vor auzi şoapta
ce-ţi trece mereu prin minte.
“Oare cine eşti tu, străine?”
Iar tu, ori cât de intunecată şi rece
ţi-ar părea lumea din jurul tău, vei răspunde:
“Eu, poate sunt Împăratul!”

Versiune in Limba Româna
Constantin ROMAN
© Constantin ROMAN, 2011

Poetry in Translation (XCVIII): Siegfried Sassoon (1886-1967), “The Old French Poet” – “Cântec de demult”

October 30th, 2011 · No Comments · Poetry, Translations

An Old FRENCH POET
Siegfried Sassoon (1886-1967)

When in your sober mood my body have ye laid
In sight and sound of things beloved, woodland and stream,
And the green turf has hidden the poor bones ye deem
No more a close companion with those rhymes we made;

Then, if some bird should pipe, or breezes stir the glade,
Thinking them for the while my voice, so let them seem
A fading message from the misty shores of dream,
Or wheresoever, following Death, my feet have strayed.

CÂNTEC DE DEMULT
[Siegfried Sassoon (1886-1967)]

Când ma veţi îngropa, cu gând cernit
In freamăt de pădure si izvoare
Şi iarba va ascunde-un oarecare
Tovarăş din trecutul mult jelit,

Atunci pădurea şi pârâul vor cânta,
Să v-amintească glasu-mi de-altă dată
Ecou din viaţa noastră fermecată,
Sau poate pasul meu ce-ar adăsta.

Rendered in Romanian by
Constantin Roman
London, October 2011
Copyright 2011 © Constantin ROMAN, Londra

Poetry in Translation (XCVII): Gabriela Melinescu, “Birth of Constellations” (Ivirea Stelelor)

October 23rd, 2011 · No Comments · Diaspora, PEOPLE, Poetry, quotations, Translations

[caption id="attachment_3546" align="aligncenter" width="132" caption="Gabriela Melinescu (b. 1942, Romania) Swedish Romanian Poet, Exile"]

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Poetry in Translation (XCVII): Gabriela Melinescu, “Birth of Constellations” (Ivirea Stelelor)

Other people are born here, on Earth,
In a fresh scent of salt and milk.
The buds burst out biting the twigs,
With the silky movement of a serpent.

O, would I ever
Be reborn?
With dilated pupils, o, breeze of pain
With white clouds, will you pass over my face?

Would you, one evening, leave me again
Like a translucent bone on the hot sands
And fretting on the sky’s pavement, oh, Mater,
Would you ever remember our love?

In Româneşte de Constantin ROMAN
(Londra, Octombrie, 2011)
Copyright 2011 © Constantin ROMAN, Londra

Poetry in Translation (XCV): Dylan Thomas: “The Hand that signed the Paper” – “Mâna ce-a pus pecetea”

October 17th, 2011 · No Comments · PEOPLE, Poetry, quotations, Translations

Mana ce-a pus pecetea

Mâna ce-a pus pecetea, a-nvins cetatea;
Cinci degete au drămuit suflarea,
Si decimând o fire, au sfârtecat o ţară;
Cinci prinţi, tăind un cap incoronat.

Un braţ de fier e prins de-o fiinţă suptă,
Crispate mâini se strâng pe frânte scuturi;
O pană pe raboj a stins o luptă
Ce-a stins in gât un murmur.

Dar mâna pe răboj are lingoare,
Lăcuste fac prăpăd si-i foame mare;
Dar mare-i mâna ce apasă ţara
Pecetea unui singur Domn.

Cinci prinţi sfidează orice-nduplecare
Cu aprigi ochi privind o viaţă frântă;
In cer sau pe pământ fără iertare;
Căci mâna n-are lacrimi ca să plângă.

Poetry in Translation (LXXXVIII): Christina ROSSETTI – “Remember” (Pomenire)

September 12th, 2011 · No Comments · Poetry, quotations, Translations

REMEMBER me when I am gone away,
Gone far away into the silent land;
When you can no more hold me by the hand,
Nor I half turn to go, yet turning stay.

POMENIRE
Nu mă uita, atunci când n-oi mai fi,
Plecat in veci pe un tărâm de plâns
Când pieptul meu nu-l vei mai ţine strâns
Dorind sa stau departe de cei vii.

Nu mă uita, asa cum sunt acum
Să-ţi povestesc de ce vom fi visat
Păstrează-mă in minte, ne-ntinat.
Când nu voi mai putea sa te indrum.

E lesne de-nţeles când n-oi mai fi
Va fi mai greu să iţi mai dau vre-un sfat
Si doar o clipă de-asi fi pregetat
Eu rogu-te-n genunchi. nu mă jeli.

Iar in mormânt de ar mai fi rămas
Doar o fărâmă din acel ce-am fost
Cu un surâs să stergi trecutul tot
Decât sa plângi cu lacrimi de pripas.

Romanian Version by Constantin ROMAN
copyright September 2011

POETRY IN TRANSLATION (LXXXIV): Gabriel ARESTI (1933-1975) BASQUE Country – “Casa Stramoseasca” (My Father’s House)

July 14th, 2011 · No Comments · Diaspora, International Media, PEOPLE, Poetry, Translations

VATRA STRAMOSEASCA

(Gabriel ARESTI, 1963, “NIRE AITAREN ETXEA”)

Voi apara

Vatra stramoseasca

De haitele de lupi,

De seceta,

De camatari,

De Jude,

Voi apara

Vatra

Stramoseasca.

Voi pierde

Cireada

Livada

Si codrul de brazi.

Voi irosi

Dobanda,

Venitul

Si bruma de bani

Dar voi apara

Vatra

Stramoseasca.

Imi vor lua armele

Dar cu bratele goale voi apara

Vatra Stramoseasca;

Imi vor smulge

Bratele

Umerii

Si pieptul

Dar cu sufletul voi apara

Vatra stramoseasca.

Voi muri

Si suflul meu va pieri

Urmasii mei vor pieri

Dar vatra stramoseasca

Va dainui.

Inaltatoare.

Poetry in translation: Mihai Eminescu (LXXXIII) – Ai nostri tineri (The Nation’s Youth)

June 15th, 2011 · No Comments · Diaspora, PEOPLE, Poetry, Translations

The Nation’s Youth

(Mihai EMINESCU)

The Nation’s Youth, to Paris go to study

The art of tying round its neck a tie.

And so, to demonstrate at home the mindset,

Of being wiser than a half-baked pie.

In town, the down-and-outs look up astounded

To see them twist their whiskers in their carriage,

Or, gripping with their teeth a long Havana

When traipsing up and down, along the Passage.

Their nasal vowels smirk their clownish faces:

They prop the pillars of cafes and brothels

To show they do not earn a living, they parade it.

Yet all these air-heads vie for the impression

Expressed in their forgotten, native language

That they are our brightest constellation.

***

English Version by Constantin ROMAN

Carmen Sylva, Elena Vacarescu and the British Composer Sir Hubert Parry

May 28th, 2011 · No Comments · Art Exhibitions, Books, PEOPLE, Poetry, quotations, Reviews, Translations

This beautiful Queen Anne house @ nr 17 Kensington Square has the largest staircase in the square. Kensington Square, 17, was the home of Hubert Parry. His eldest daughter inherited the house in 1932. She was married to Lord Ponsonby, leader of the Labour opposition in the House of Lords. In 1936 Lord Ponsonby produced a detailed and well-researched history of Kensington Square.

A prolific musician, composer and from 1885 Director of the Royal Academy of Music who nursed a whole generation of British composers, Hubert Parry is much forgotten today except for his piece sang by riotous crowds at the last night of the Proms set on Blake’s poem “Jerusalem”. He composed chamber music, oratorios and symphonies.
On a more exotic note he set to music “The Soldier’s Tent” a poem by Carmen Sylva, Queen of Romania and Helene Vacaresco, which at the time of the Boer War was greatly en vogue raising the spirits of the British public at home.

The Soldier’s Tent
The Queen of Romania wrote the poem “The Soldier’s tent” put to music by Sir Herbert Parry – a song popular during the Boer War

Poetry in Translation (LXXXI): Lucian Blaga (1922-1985) – “To my Readers” (CĂTRE CITITORI)

March 30th, 2011 · No Comments · PEOPLE, Poetry, quotations, Translations

MOTTO (In Marea Trecere): Opreste trecerea. Ştiu că unde nu e moarte nu e nici iubire – şi totuşi to rog: opreste, Doamne, ceasornicul cu care ne măsuri destrămarea.
Lucian Blaga (1922-1985), Poetry in Translation (XIV), “To my Readers” (CĂTRE CITITORI)
Versiune Engleza de Constantin ROMAN (Londra)

1924
Motto
The Great Passage:
Halt the Great Passge. I know Mylord there is no Love without Death. And yet, Mylord, please stop the clock with which you measure our decay.

“Believe me, believe me one could speak endlessly about anything:

About Fate and the well-wishing Snake

About Archangels ploughing the Garden of Man

About the Sky which we hope to reach,

About Hatred and Fall, Sadness and Crucifixion…

But above all, about the Great Passage.

Yet words are nothing else than the tears

Of those who wished so much to cry, but couldn’t.

Bitter, so bitter are all words

And therefore

Let me walk in silence amongst you

Cross your way

Eyes-closed.

(Rendered in English by Constantin ROMAN)

Poetry in Translation ( LXXX) – William Butler YEATS – “The Lake Isle of Innisfree”

March 10th, 2011 · No Comments · Diaspora, Poetry, quotations, Translations

The Lake Isle of Innisfree

W.B. Yates (1865-1939)

” I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree.
And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made;
Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honey-bee,
And live alone in the bee loud glade.”

” But I, being poor, have only my dreams.
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly, because you tread on my dreams.”

W. B. Yeats (1865-1939)

Insula de pe lacul Innisfree

(Traducere libera de Constantin ROMAN)

Voi invia din morti, sa zbor la Innisfree

Sa-mi fac in vis coliba din paie si chirpici

Pe dealul insorit printre stupi voi tanji

Sa traiesc solitar in zumzetul de-aici.

Dar sarac fiind sa fiu, doar un gand de pribeag

Mai ramane s-astern sub calcaiu-ti de vis

Peste doru-mi ai grije prea greu sa nu calci

Sa apari ca un fulg cand vei trece-al meu prag.

Centre for Romanian Studies