Centre for Romanian Studies

Poetry in Translation (CCCLI), Constantin Virgil GHEORGHIU (1916-1992) ROMANIA, FRANCE: ”Sonnet”, “Sonet”

C. Virgil Gheorghiu

SONNET
Virgil GHEORGIU (1916-1992)

The old Master Manole tried in vain
To raise his legendary church to God,
As overnight the wall will fall roughshod
And cause him ev’ry morn to start again.

But soon the old man’s toil received God’s blessing
To sacrifice, and built within the wall
No stranger, neither family at all,
But his own sweetheart, with her smile arresting.

As he could see his happiness undone
He offers, now, his masterpiece to God –
The holy towers shining in the sun…

Now minstrels sing his praise and utter Glory
The good and great will bring his fame abroad:
His monument to Love enshrines his Story.

Rendered in English by Constantin ROMAN,
© 2015 Copyright Constantin ROMAN, London

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Master Manole’s Curtea de Arges Monastery

Sonet

Virgil Gheorghiu (1916-1992)

Lucra Manole meşterul cu trudă
Şi fără spor la zidul legendar,
Ca-n faptul nopţii, piatra de sub var
Smintea din loc cu tencuiala udă.

Dar n-a mai fost istovul în zadar,
Când a zidit cu desnădejde crudă,
În temelii, un om străin, nici rudă,
Ci draga lui: trup viu, cu ochi de jar.

S-a-năbusit năprasnic fericirea,
Dar întărită-i schela. Turnuri sfinte
Sclipesc urcând în soare mânăstirea.

Asemeni lui, purtând un vis în minte,
Poeţii îşi ating desăvârşirea
Zidind iubirea vieţii în cuvinte.

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SHORT BIO: Constantin Virgil Gheorghiu (September 15, 1916 – June 22, 1992, Paris, France) studied philosophy and theology at the University of Bucharest and at the Heidelberg University. He was a Romanian writer, best known for his 1949 novel, “The 25th Hour”. The book was published in French translation in 1949 and was not published in Romania until 2004.
In 1967, Carlo Ponti produced a film based on Gheorghiu’s book. The movie was directed by Henri Verneuil, with Anthony Quinn as Johann, Virna Lisi as Suzanna, and Serge Reggiani as Traian.

Virgil Gheorghiu was ordained an Orthodox priest in 1963 and became the Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church in France in 1971.
He continued to write, publishing “Christ in Lebanon” in 1979 and “God in Paris” the next year. He was a prolific novelist with over 26 titles published in French between1949 and 1986 and scores of other genres.
After his demise his widow made a gift of all his archives to the Romanian Academy in Bucharest.