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Poetry in Translation (CLI): Grigore VIERU (1935 – 2009), Bessarabia, Romania, now Republic of Moldova – “Salvati-vă prin limbă”, “Survival through Native Tongue”

December 18th, 2012 · Comments Off on Poetry in Translation (CLI): Grigore VIERU (1935 – 2009), Bessarabia, Romania, now Republic of Moldova – “Salvati-vă prin limbă”, “Survival through Native Tongue” · Diaspora, PEOPLE, Poetry, quotations, Translations

S-a otrăvit dulceaţa poamei
Şi laptele din sânii mamei.
S-a otrăvit barbar văzduhul
De ce s-a otrăvit şi duhul,
De ce şi graiul?!
Sculaţi-vă, sculaţi-vă, sculaţi-vă
Din somnul cel de moarte!
Salvaţi-vă, salvaţi-vă, salvaţi-vă
Prin limbă şi prin carte!

Grigore VIERU (1935-2009)

The fruit of the tree lost its zest
So has the milk from the mother’s breast.
The deadly sky is only doom.
But why should one poison the spirit,
And our tongue with it?
Arise, arise, arise,
From your mortal slumber!
Save your wits, save your wits, save your wits!
Keep your native tongue and your soul with it.

(Rendered in English from the Romanian original verse
by Constantin ROMAN, Londra,
© 2012, Copyright Constantin ROMAN)

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Poetry in Translation (CXLVI): Sergiu MANDINESCU (1926-1964), ROMANIA, “Prison Warder”, “ Suflet de călău”

November 22nd, 2012 · Comments Off on Poetry in Translation (CXLVI): Sergiu MANDINESCU (1926-1964), ROMANIA, “Prison Warder”, “ Suflet de călău” · PEOPLE, Poetry, quotations, Translations

A muffled night
a bottomless abyss
a peacock’s cry
that never goes amiss.
Great panthers watching in the night
and tigers ready for the pounce,
the pythons flawlessly advance
a path so trite.
The shadow’s silence so profound
fills to the brim the darkest mind –
a jungle full of beasts of any kind,
but human soul is nowhere to be found!

(Rendered in English, from the Romanian original,
by Constantin ROMAN, London,
© 2012, Copyright Constantin ROMAN)

Sergiu MANDINESCU (1926-1964) – Biographical Note:

Sergiu Mandinescu was a son of Bucovina, who died prematurely at the age of 38, of which 14 years, between 1949 and 1963, were spent in the harshest Communist prisons: Jilava, Pitesti, Gherla, Aiud and more.
He died within one year of being released from prison, having barely had time to put pen to paper – his own poems that he memorized in the darkest prison cells.
Sergiu was only 23 years of age when he was imprisoned by the Communists and was discharged at the age of 37, only to pass away a year later.

Even after the demise of Ceausescu, 25 years after Mandinescu’s death, Romania was not ready to confront the demons of its past, as the “post-Communist” publishing houses still blackballed the publications of the poet’s verse. However, a handful of these appeared in print, first, before 1989, through the effort of the Romanian Diaspora and of late, in Romania, on the Internet and in some provincial literary magazines.
Considering the aforesaid, one can reasonably state, without fear of contradiction, that the conspiracy of silence is still alive and well in the Carpathian lands, in the guise of a pre programmed amnesia, through the good offices of overt and covert gremlins, perched in lucrative sinecures: the latter are at work, full time, like termites, until the whole shebang would implode: never too soon!

Addendum:
There seems to be no portrait extant of Sergiu Mandinescu, even though, given the assiduous efforts of the Romanian secret services, there ought to be some prison photos when he was indicted and therefore available in the late poet’s Securitate files.

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Poetry in Translation (CXXXIII): Paul Valéry, (1871, Sète, – 1945 Paris) – “Les Pas”, “Paşii tăi -”

October 12th, 2012 · Comments Off on Poetry in Translation (CXXXIII): Paul Valéry, (1871, Sète, – 1945 Paris) – “Les Pas”, “Paşii tăi -” · OPINION, PEOPLE, Poetry, quotations, Translations

Tes pas, enfants de mon silence,
Saintement, lentement placés,
Vers le lit de ma vigilance
Procèdent muets et glacés.

Paul Valéry
(1871, Sète – 1945, Paris)

Paşii tăi

Copii ai sufletului meu,
Sunt paşii tăi, mergând neobosit
Mereu prin ale soartei văi.
Cu trupul îngheţat şi trist.

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Poetry in Translation (CX): Joseba SARRIONANDIA (n. 1958), Poet Basc – ÎNTOARCEREA ACASĂ (Return Home)

June 22nd, 2012 · No Comments · International Media, Poetry, quotations, Translations

Poetry in Translation (CX): Joseba SARRIONANDIA (n. 1958), Poet Basc – ÎNTOARCEREA ACASĂ (Return Home)
cu braţul plin de hărţi, la subţioară
m-ai trimis de-acasă
prin coclaurile fricii
in căutarea cântecului de sirenă
tot ce ţi-am adus din peregrinarile mele
au fost doar nişte pietricele, măruntv de cremene
şi cuiburi, destrămate de mierle
care zboară in străfundul întunecat al junglei
timpul a inghiţit cărarea
şi aşa, m-am întors acasă la tine
dar uşa ta era nouă
şi lacătul schimbat

versiune în limba Română de Constantin ROMAN
Londra, 22 Iunie 2012
© Copyright 2012, Constantin ROMAN

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Poetry in Translation (CIX): Giuseppe Joacchino BELLI (1791-1863) – Creatura

June 21st, 2012 · No Comments · International Media, PEOPLE, Poetry, quotations, Translations

CREATURA
Giuseppe Joacchino BELLI (1791-1863)
(Poet Italian de expresie Trasteverină)

Ascultă-i muma-i debitând prostii
De-abea că l-a născut in bătătură
Şi zice că-i deştept, şi chiar se jură
De-ai contrazice-o palmă vei primi.

El ştie tot şi toate dela sine.
E limpede ca ploaia din senin;
E-o capodoperă, aşa cum nu mai ştim
Şi plin de haruri: este o minune.

De fapt, nu e decât un maimuţoi
Un prostânac şi-o creatură seacă
Ce toata ziua plânge şi se cacă.

Dar măsii, i se pare-acest puţoi
Ca fiind cel mai isteţ invăţăcel
Căci mamele, ori unde, sunt la fel.

Versiune in limba Romană de Constantin ROMAN,
Londra, 19 Iunie 2012
© Copyright 2012, Constantin ROMAN

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Poetry in Translation (CVII): Rikardo ARREGI (n. 1958, Gasteiz, Ţara Bască , Spania ) – Domeniu Muzical

June 5th, 2012 · No Comments · International Media, PEOPLE, Poetry, quotations, Translations

Domeniu Muzical
(Rikardo ARREGI, n. 1958, Gasteiz, Ţara Bască, Spania, Poet Basc)

Cântă-mi un Lieder de Schubert, unul trist;
Träumerei sau Lindenbaum, plin de păduri nesfârşite,
Reavărsând apele limpezi, scăldate de o dragoste imposibilă.
Cântă pianissimo şi interpretează liedul cel mai trist
Fă-i loc, bietului Franz, la gura sobei.
Şi de vei cânta, cumva, cuvântul Herz,
Ai grije să ii dai tonul şi modulaţia potrivită,
Să ne închipuim că suntem romanticii
Anilor o mie opt sute două zeci şi şapte
Şi că unul dintre noi ar suferi de o boală incurabilă
Pentru că nimeni nu va înţelege vre-o dată
Curajul nostru, frumuseţea noastră.

Versiune in limba Română de Constantin ROMAN,
Londra, Iunie 2012

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Poetry in Translation (C): W.B. Yeates (1865 – 1939) – “When you are Old”, “

December 25th, 2011 · 1 Comment · PEOPLE, Poetry, quotations, Translations

When You are Old
by W. B. Yeates

When you are old and grey and full of sleep,
And nodding by the fire, take down this book,
And slowly read, and dream of the soft look
Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;

How many loved your moments of glad grace,
And loved your beauty with love false or true,
But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,
And loved the sorrows of your changing face;

And bending down beside the glowing bars,
Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled
And paced upon the mountains overhead
And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.

Când esti bătrân

Când eşti cărunt, letargic şi bătrân,
Pe lângă sobă-o carte ai deschis…
Iar ochilor, târcoale dau, în vis,
Sclipirile ce-au fost, dar nu mai sânt.

Câţi oameni n-ar fi vrut să fi primit
Atâtea haruri dela Dumezeu,
Dar dintre toţi, eu singură, mereu
Am înţeles tot ce ai pătimit.

Pe culmi de munţi, zburând spre zări pustii,
O clipă, chipu-ţi trist a adăstat.
Dar ai purces, cu dorul necurmat,
Si faţ-ascunsă printre galaxii.

In Romaneste de Constantin ROMAN
Rendered in Romanian by Constantin ROMAN
© Constantin Roman, London, December 2011

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