“Awake, awake Romanians from your lethargic sleep,
In which your foreign tyrants have sunken you so deep!
It’s either now or never to shape a fate for you,
To whose behest should cower your cruel enemies too!”
(Alexander Muresanu (1) (1816, Bistrita-Brasov, 1863),
Transylvanian poet, author of the national Anthem
(“Desteapta-te Romane”)
Entries Tagged as 'Eminescu'
Romanian Dictionary of Quotations, Selected & Translated by Constantin ROMAN: Letter ‘A’
July 16th, 2013 · No Comments · Books, PEOPLE, quotations, Translations
Tags:"anti-communist"·"Constantin Roman"·"Romanian Dictionary of Quotations"·"Romanian-English"·Aging·Airplanes·Alienation·Aliens·Anti-Christ·Aphorism·art·artist·author·Avant-garde·Awakening·Brancusi·Celan·Cioran·Coanda·Eminescu·Horia·Ionesco·Muresanu·Ogoranu·translator·Tzara·Vuia
Poetry in translation: Mihai Eminescu (LXXXIII) – Ai nostri tineri (The Nation’s Youth)
June 15th, 2011 · Comments Off on Poetry in translation: Mihai Eminescu (LXXXIII) – Ai nostri tineri (The Nation’s Youth) · 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
(All rights reserved, copyright, 2011)
Tags:"Ai nostri tineri"·"Constantin Roman"·"The Nation's Youth"·Eminescu·English·poet·poetry·romanian·translation
