Centre for Romanian Studies

Poetry in Translation (CCI): Tzveta SOFRONIEVA (b. 1963, Bulgaria), BULGARIA & GERMANY, “When Zeus turned his back on her”, “Când Zeus i-a întors spatele”

Tzveta Sofronieva
(b. Sofia, Bulgaria, 1963)

When Zeus turned his back on her
The language that used to be my home
is now a feather in Europe’s wing:
Will it fly or admire its own beauty,
narcissistically, in the spring?

(English version by Chantal Wright)

* * * * * * * * * * *

Tzveta Sofronieva
(n. Sofia, Bulgaria, 1963)

Când Zeus i-a întors spatele
limba care era casa strămoşilor mei
acum e doar un fulg în aripa Europei:
oare zbura- va ca să-şi admire frumuseţea,
ca un Narcis, primăvara?

* * * * * * * * * * *

Tzveta Sofronieva

SHORT BIO:
Tzveta Sofronieva was born in Sofia, Bulgaria in 1963 and has lived in Berlin since 1992. She writes short stories, essays and poetry in both her mother tongue (Bulgarian) and her adopted language (German). Sofronieva’s volume, Eine Hand voll Wasser (2008), is her first full-length collection of poetry in German. In 2009 Sofronieva was awarded the Adelbert-von-Chamisso-Förderpreis. She has been appointed 2010 writer-in-residence at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin, (2010).

A hand full of Water
by
Tzveta Sofronieva