Poetry in Translation (CCXXXIII): Hélène VACARESCO (Elena Văcărescu, b. 1866 Bucharest – d. 1947, Paris): “Romania”
Geneva, The League of Nations
Elena Vacarescu: fondatrice du prix Femina
“My voice comes from faraway, therefore it is faint and, also, because it is a woman’s voice, it is trembling of the emotion imposed by your presence, as much as of the honour of being listen to. My voice comes from faraway, but it hopes when you will listen to it that it will resound in your hearts.
My voice comes from the midst of this nation, which having been placed on the threshold of Europe, will have loved and admired France and like France, and often through it, she would have strived for Freedom, vowed to have accomplished a splendid destiny and face bravely the changing mood of Fortune.
You may well recognise in these qualities Romania, land of suffering, land of enlightenment and of valour placed across the promontory against the dredge of Asian invasions and like a beacon being mightily conscious of defending the civilization, which gave it its people and its laws”.
(Hélène Vacaresco, Diplomat, Poet,
addressing the Societe des Nations,
Paris, 27th April 1925)
translated by Constantin ROMAN
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