Centre for Romanian Studies

Poetry in Translation, (CCLXXII) – ENGLAND, Dame Edith Louisa Sitwell (1887-1964): “Answers”, “Răspunsuri”

Answers
Edith Sitwell (1887-1964)

I kept my answers small and kept them near;
Big questions bruised my mind but still I let
Small answers be a bullwark to my fear.

The huge abstractions I kept from the light;
Small things I handled and caressed and loved.
I let the stars assume the whole of night.

But the big answers clamoured to be moved Into my life. Their great audacity
Shouted to be acknowledged and believed.

Even when all small answers build up to
Protection of my spirit, still I hear
Big answers striving for their overthrow.

And all the great conclusions coming near.

Răspunsuri
Dame Edith Sitwell (1887-1964)

Răspunsurile le-am ţinut ascunse-n piept
Când semne de-ntrebare s-au sminţit
Răspunsuri mici revin, necontenit.

Abstracţii mari le ţin ascuse-n umbră,
Iar lucruri mici le mângâi, plin de dor,
Când stelele sclipesc în noaptea sumbră.

Dar explicaţii mari năval-au dat în viaţa mea, cu mult curaj
Strigând să le aud, să le-nţeleg.
Dar când răspunsurile mai mărunte
Aspiră la-nţelegere, din nou,
Răspunsurile mari le-ntorc pe dos
Şi-atunci ideea clar-apare-n minte.

Rendered in Romanian by Constantin ROMAN,
© 2014 Copyright Constantin ROMAN, London

SHORT BIO NOTE: Dame Edith Louisa Sitwell, DBE, was a British poet and critic and the eldest of the three literary Sitwells. Born in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, in 1887, she died in London, in 1964.
Like her brothers Osbert and Sacheverell, Edith reacted badly to her eccentric, unloving parents, and lived for much of her life with her governess. She never married, but became passionately attached to Pavel Tchelitchew (1898 – 1957) the homosexual Russian painter and costume designer. Edith Sitwell’s home was always open to London’s poetic circle, to whom she was unfailingly generous and helpful.
Sitwell published poetry continuously from 1913, some of it abstract and set to music. With her dramatic style and exotic costumes, she was sometimes labeled a poseur, but her work was also praised for its solid technique and painstaking craftsmanship (source primarily from Wikipedia, modified).