EXIL (Marin Sorescu)
Au inflorit cartofii in Marmatia / si voi tocmai acum plecati spre sud /cand ceru-i aiurit si descusut / cand se confunda bocetul cu natia ? /
EXILE
As the potato flowers are in bloom
You take the road which ever us do part?
Now that the sky is gray and overcast
And tears confound the country and the doom?
The grief will be for you the new abode
Perhaps a warmer grave and newer ethos
We shall unearth those emerald potatoes
Those precious stones dug out from where we hoed.
What kind of God preserved in secret heavens
May still be glad to gather our bones
With you, with us we cry on our tombs
With you with us a story ends in ruins.
(Translated from Romanian by Constantin ROMAN)
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Tags:"Constantin Roman"·"Marin Sorescu"·"Pisica Metafizica'·"The Metaphysical Cat"·c ommunism·cat·Ceausescu·English·exil·exile·poem·poet·Romania·translation·translation Romanian
DEDICATION (Vintila Horia)
Through streets of Babylon I look confused
For Thee my Lord to come in your pursuit
My voice is hoarse and broken like a lute
Which lost its soul for being over used.
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Constantin Roman invites us for a walk, during which he enjoins past and present alike, in a brisk coming and going of the narrative. It is a narrative that cannot suddenly end, but rather one which compels us to start all over again and revisit. It is a truly wonderful gift, a very happy surprise indeed of an inherently original book, which haunts us like the persistent music of those Romanian women’s voices.” (French Government Adviser, Paris)
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Tags:"19th Century"·"20th century"·"Blouse Roumaine"·"Post-Communism" QUotations·"Romanian Women". Romania·"Social History"·anthology·Culture·Europe·Feminism·Multi-disciplinary·politics·quotations·translation
Ada Tyrrell (1854-1955), Anglo-Irish writer and socialite is best known for her poem “My Son” written during WWI. In the context of the current British engagement in Irak and Afghanistan it has a particularly poignant relevance. fregments of this poem are rendered into Romanian.
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Tags:"Ada Tyrell"·"Constantin Roman"·"Fiul meu"·"My son"·"traducere din engleza"·Anglo-Irish·Britain·Ireland·poetry·Romania·translation
Josef Ozga MICHALSKI, Poland (1919-2002)
DE LA ANTIPOZI
Ma darui Frumosului
Ca norul – vantului
Ca somnul desteptarii
Ca noaptea – zorilor
Nu pot lega vantul
Nu pot scapa desteptarii
Zorilor nu ma pot ascunde
Sa te intrezaresc, numai, de as putea
Prin globul de sticla
Prin oceane
In loc sa scriem scrisori
Sa indreptam privirile, numai, de am putea
De la antipozi
Si prin cele doua mari
Sa privim in [...]
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Jean-Guy PILON (Quebec, Canada)
STRAINUL ACESTA (L’ETRANGER D’ICI)
Era dintr-o tara de corsari bigoti
Unde inconstienta era luata drept dogma,
Imbecilul drept stapan
Iar nebunul drept ntelept
Era o tara de lupte inutile
Si de ruini magnifice
O tara mancata de viermi
Cand a vrut sa-si strige mania
Nu i s-a ingaduit sa o faca
De abea l-au lasat sa moara.
(Published under the title “Din poezia [...]
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Guy CHAMBELLAND (1927 – 1996)
QUAND LE COEUR TOUT D’UN COUP ME MANQUE
Quand le coeur tout d’un coup me manque, qui dois-je
me faire, eau ou pierre, pour m’habiter inhabitable?
Ne suis-je qu’une vieille, ne suis-je qu’un pitre?
Poème, statue sur l’eau, – mais moi?
Comme j’avançais encore, maladroit entre chiens et
roses, entre femmes et dieux, la mort me mit [...]
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Tags:"Guy de Chambellland"·Burgundy·Francophone·poetry·translation
Mircea DINESCU (b. 1953) – Three Poems
“A DRINKING BINGE WITH MARX”
“O BETIE CU KARL MARX”, (Poems, 1989).
(Translated FROM ROMANIAN by Constantin ROMAN, London, February 2003)
“Venerable Marx, if you lived in these lands
You would be quickly clean shaven and sent to a school for re-education.
The fact that even the cows from the East
Which grazed near [...]
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Editor’s Note:
We have not heard from Mr. Paunescu for some time, at least not since his memorable appearance in the United Kingdom, as guest of the International Poetry Festival “Stanza’s”, at the University of St. Andrew’s, Scotland, A.D. 2000.
As our readers will recall, this Festival was organised by the talented Scottish bard, Dr. Gavin Bowd [...]
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