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Poetry in Translation (CCCLXXVI & CCCLXXVII): Iulian BOLDEA (b. 1963) – TRANSYLVANIA / ROMANIA “Portrait d’une femme”, “In your body’s maze”, “Kant”, “Lex moralis”,

January 29th, 2016 · Comments Off on Poetry in Translation (CCCLXXVI & CCCLXXVII): Iulian BOLDEA (b. 1963) – TRANSYLVANIA / ROMANIA “Portrait d’une femme”, “In your body’s maze”, “Kant”, “Lex moralis”, · Books, Famous People, International Media, PEOPLE, Poetry, quotations, Translations

in your body’s maze
no wonder remains intact
no sadness could be surmised
within the concave mirror of your mind
only the unconsumed kisses
trickle in the corner of your lips
like a misinterpreted smile like
a disturbingly real
chimera.
Rendered in Romanian by Constantin ROMAN, London, 2016
© 2016 Copyright Constantin ROMAN, London

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Poetry in Translation (CLXIV): Lucian BLAGA (1895 – 1961), “Notre légende”, “Legenda noastră”, “Our Legend”

January 30th, 2013 · Comments Off on Poetry in Translation (CLXIV): Lucian BLAGA (1895 – 1961), “Notre légende”, “Legenda noastră”, “Our Legend” · Poetry, quotations, Translations

Ce soir-là, sur un fond de graves tumultes
quelque chose ineffablement changea
ici, dans la terrestre époque de brumes et d’argile
et dans les contrées lunaires voisines de là-haut.
Le pays acquit des carat
qu’aucune balance n’a pesés.

D’argent se firent, ô, les marches, les fronts,
des purs témoins aux créations de l’univers.
Et nous deux, nous nous devinions, delivrés des pénombres,
comme deux êtres de soie en marche.

À cette heure exaltée, d’alchimie célèste,
nous obligeames la lune – et quelques autres astrres
à tourner
autours de nos coeurs.

En Français par Constantin ROMAN
Bucarest 1967, Londres, 2013
© 2013, Copyright Constantin ROMAN

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Poetry in Translation (CLXIII): Lucian BLAGA (1895 – 1961), “To my Readers”, “Aux lecteurs”, Către cititori”

January 30th, 2013 · Comments Off on Poetry in Translation (CLXIII): Lucian BLAGA (1895 – 1961), “To my Readers”, “Aux lecteurs”, Către cititori” · International Media, Poetry, Translations

Here is my house. There is the Sun and the garden with beehives.
You are passing along the road, peering through the slats of my gate
Expecting me to speak. Where shall I start?
Believe me, please, believe me,
one could talk as long as one wants, about anything:
of Destiny and the snake of goodwill,
of archangels tilling
the land of man,
of heavens towards which we aspire,
of hatred and fall, of sadness and Calvary,
but, above all, about the great passage.
Yet our words are only the tears of those who wished
so much to cry and could not.
Bitter are all those words
and that is why, please, allow me
to pass in silence amongst you,
crossing your road, eyes closed.

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Poetry in Translation (CLX): Lucian BLAGA (1922 – 1985), “Dernier mot” (Ultimul cuvânt)

January 26th, 2013 · Comments Off on Poetry in Translation (CLX): Lucian BLAGA (1922 – 1985), “Dernier mot” (Ultimul cuvânt) · PEOPLE, Poetry, quotations, Translations, Uncategorized

If Cioran is considered the contemporary extension of Nietsche, and his thoughts written in French are translated in many languages, Lucian’s Blaga’s works remain highly mystical, close to the primeval myth and to his village roots and, sadly, very little translated in foreign languages.
Like Cioran, Blaga was born the son of an Orthodox priest in a small village of Transylvania at the time when this province was still part of the Habsburg empire. By the time of his maturity his contribution to Phylosophy and poetry was recognised by being elected a Fellow of the Romanian Academy, just before the Second World War. With the advent of Communism in Romania the last two decades of his life were spent in obscurity, interspersed with time in the Communist prisons, reduced to silence and physical incapacity.

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