Centre for Romanian Studies

Poetry in Translation, (CCXCVI), Flavia TEOC (b. 1971), ROMANIA:
“Fata în casă, sau despre trupul poetului”, “Maiden at home, or about the poet’s body”

Flavia TEOC
(b. 1971, Transylvania)

Maiden at home,
Or About the Poet’s Body

A whole cornfield
Will come through the door
You, with a melancholy face,
Will smile at the shiny button, which fastens
The dress.

A small flag will hoist itself boldly
From the carefully pleated bun
It’s still young and it will not yield, easily,
Without a brief fight.

At the bosom,
An old lilac would nestle
Like in a collapsed
Silver mine.

And you are writing your diary, with soft movements
Swimming in a green sea, conquered
A long time ago.

(Rendered in English by Constantin ROMAN, London
© 2014 Copyright Constantin ROMAN, London)

Flavia TEOC
(n. 1971, Romania)

Fata în casă
sau despre trupul poetului

Îţi va intra pe uşa un lan de porumb
Tu, melancolic cum eşti,
Vei surâde nasturelui chilug care-i încheie
Rochia.

Un steag va flutura îndrăzneţ
Din cocul bine împletit
E încă tânăr, şi n-are de gând să se predea
Fără o scurtă încăierare.

În piept
Un liliac bătrân stă cuibărit
Ca într-o mină de argint
Prăbuşită.

Şi tu scrii în jurnal, cu gesturi moi,
Înotând pe o mare verzuie,
Demult cucerită.

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Flavia TEOC (b. 1971) is a Philosophy graduate, poet, journalist and broadcaster, who poublished several anthologies of verse and prose. Flavia lives in Cluj and her family has its roots in the Transylvanian Alps, among the Dacian descendants of the Motz Country with centuries-old traditions of fighting for their freedoms.

Constantin ROMAN is a Geophysicist, born in a town on the Lower Danube Valley and living in England since 1968. His literary debut goes back to his student days in Bucharest, Newcastle and Cambridge. Other than his articles and books on Science and Humanities he has translated Romanian, French, English, German, American, Canadian, Polish, Spanish, Basque and Arabic poets.