Centre for Romanian Studies

POETRY IN TRANSLATION (CCLIV), ENGLAND – Carol RUMENS,(b. 1944): “And if it was”, “Iar dacă…”

And if it was
(Carol RUMENS,
b. 1944, London)

If it was only for you
all along, all the time, all the way,
and nothing was left of our brightest exchange
of brain-light and blood-sugar; if
it turned out to be just for the flirt and the fling, the great luck
when it worked, when we came, and I caught
the whiff of your sweat, like human sweat,
and your glow, saw your feathers and hair
flare like an Inca head-dress, though
no more than a match-flame, over and out, not catching
anyone’s fire but mine, any time but now,
would you forgive me, words?

from: ‘Blind Spots’ (Seren, Bridgend, 2007), p. 97

Iar dacă …
(Carol RUMENS,
n. 1944, Londra)

Iar dacă ar fi fost doar pentru tine
din nou, mereu şi până la sfârşit,
până nimic nu ar mai fi rămas din dialogul nostru efervescent,
din sclipirile de idei şi din sângele aprins; iar dacă
totul s-ar fi înfiripat doar ca un flirt, sau ca un simplu impuls, atunci marele noroc
al întamplării, când am atins apexul şi am simţit
parfumul sudoarei trupului tău,
şi transcendenţa ta, şi am admirat pletele tale
arzând ca penele unui Indian Incaş, deşi, totuşi,
nu mai mult decât flacăra unui chibrit, aprins şi imediat stins, nedând foc
nimănui altcuiva decât mie, oricând, dar nu acum,
oare, mă veţi fi iertat, voi, vorbele mele?

Versiune în limba Română de Constantin ROMAN,
© 2014, Copyright Constantin ROMAN, Londra

Short Bio Note:
Carol RUMENS (b. 1944, London) is the author of 14 collections of poems, as well as occasional fiction, drama and translation. She has received the Cholmondeley Award and the Prudence Farmer Prize, and was joint recipient of an Alice Hunt Bartlett Award. Her most recent publication is the prose book, ‘Self into Song’, based on three poetry lectures delivered in the Bloodaxe-Newcastle University Lecture Series. She is currently professor in creative writing at Bangor University, and is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. Her latest collection is De Chirico’s Threads, published by Seren Books.