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Entries from October 31st, 2014

Poetry in Translation (CCCV): Eugenio MONTALE, (1896, Genoa-1981 Milan), ITALY/LIGURIA, “Speranţa de a te revedea”, “La speranza di pure rivederti”

October 31st, 2014 · Comments Off on Poetry in Translation (CCCV): Eugenio MONTALE, (1896, Genoa-1981 Milan), ITALY/LIGURIA, “Speranţa de a te revedea”, “La speranza di pure rivederti” · PEOPLE, Poetry, quotations, Translations

La speranza di pure rivederti
m’abbandonava;
e mi chiesi se questo che mi chiude
ogni senso di te, schermo d’immagini,
ha i segni della morte o dal passato
è in esso, ma distorto e fatto labile,
un tuo barbaglio:
(a Modena, tra i portici,
un servo gallonato trascinava
due sciacalli al guinzaglio).

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Poetry in Translation (CCCIV): Peter LEWIS, GERMANY & ENGLAND: “Ballad of the Ages”, “Balada vârstei”

October 26th, 2014 · Comments Off on Poetry in Translation (CCCIV): Peter LEWIS, GERMANY & ENGLAND: “Ballad of the Ages”, “Balada vârstei” · Diaspora, International Media, Poetry, quotations, Translations

Ballad of the Ages
Wilhelm BUSCH, Theodore FONTANE & Eugen ROTH

When you’re a kid, your life’s a breeze
A time to do just as you please
But being small you’re much too keen
To grow into a sulky teen.

At eighteen, though, you blithely say
By twenty I’ll be tired and grey
But when you duly reach that stage
Why, thirty seems a ripe old age.

And in your fourties what you fear
Is tour approaching fiftieth year
But when it comes, lo and behold…
You really don’t feel all that old!

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Poetry in Translation (CCCIII): Christina ROSSETTI (1830 – 1894), England, Poet: “The hope I dreamed of was a dream ”, “Speranţa ce-am visat”

October 26th, 2014 · Comments Off on Poetry in Translation (CCCIII): Christina ROSSETTI (1830 – 1894), England, Poet: “The hope I dreamed of was a dream ”, “Speranţa ce-am visat” · PEOPLE, Poetry, quotations, Translations

The hope I dreamed of was a dream,
Was but a dream; and now I wake,
Exceeding comfortless, and worn, and old,
For a dream’s sake.
I hang my harp upon a tree,
A weeping willow in a lake;
I hang my silent harp there, wrung and snapt
For a dream’s sake.
Lie still, lie still, my breaking heart;
My silent heart, lie still and break:
Life, and the world, and [mine] own self, are changed
For a dream’s sake.

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Poetry in Translation, (CCCII): Robert FROST (1894-1963), U.S.A.: “Fire and Ice”, “Foc şi viscol“

October 22nd, 2014 · Comments Off on Poetry in Translation, (CCCII): Robert FROST (1894-1963), U.S.A.: “Fire and Ice”, “Foc şi viscol“ · PEOPLE, Poetry, quotations, Translations

Fire and Ice
(Robert FROST)
Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.

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Poetry in Translation, (CCCI): Patrick Henry PEARSE (1879-1916), Ireland: “Răsculatul” , “The Rebel”

October 17th, 2014 · Comments Off on Poetry in Translation, (CCCI): Patrick Henry PEARSE (1879-1916), Ireland: “Răsculatul” , “The Rebel” · PEOPLE, Poetry, quotations, Translations

And I say to my people’s masters: Beware,
Beware of the thing that is coming, beware of the risen people,
Who shall take what ye would not give.
Did ye think to conquer the people,
Or that Law is stronger than life and than men’s desire to be free?

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