Centre for Romanian Studies

Poetry in Translation (CLV): Marin SORESCU (1936 – 1996, Romania) – “Passport”, “Paşaport”

Passport

To cross the border
Between the sunflower
And the moonflower
Between the alphabet
Of handwritten events
And printed events.

To be friend of all atoms
Which form the light
To sing with the atoms which sing
To cry
With the atoms which die
To enter into all the days of one’s life
Without restriction
No matter whether they fall on one side or the other
Of the word
Earth.

This passport
Is written in my bones
On my skull, femur, phalanges and spine
All arranged in a way
To make clear
My right to be man.

(Rendered in English by Constantin ROMAN, London
© 2012, Copyright Constantin ROMAN)

First published in:
Encounter, December 1972
“Three Poems by Marin Sorescu”
by Constantin Roman & Timothy J.L. Cribb. (Cambridge)