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Entries Tagged as 'PEOPLE'

Poetry in Translation (CCCLXXI), RUSSIA, Alexander PUSHKIN (1799, Moscow – 1837 St. Petersburg): “Friendship”, “Prietenie”

January 5th, 2016 · Comments Off on Poetry in Translation (CCCLXXI), RUSSIA, Alexander PUSHKIN (1799, Moscow – 1837 St. Petersburg): “Friendship”, “Prietenie” · Communist Prisons, Famous People, History, International Media, PEOPLE, Poetry, POLITICAL DETENTION / DISSENT, Translations

What’s friendship? The hangover’s faction,
The gratis talk of outrage,
Exchange by vanity, inaction,
Or bitter shame of patronage.

Prietenia, ce e? Ecou de facţiune,
O vorbă ieftină, cu spirit de ultraj,
Cocktail de vanitate şi inacţiune,
Păcatul unui mare patronaj.

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Poetry in Translation (CCCLXX), Mexico, Víctor TERÁN (b. 1958, Mexico): “I Know Your Body”, “ Îţi cunosc trupul tău”

January 3rd, 2016 · Comments Off on Poetry in Translation (CCCLXX), Mexico, Víctor TERÁN (b. 1958, Mexico): “I Know Your Body”, “ Îţi cunosc trupul tău” · Books, Diaspora, Famous People, International Media, PEOPLE, Poetry, quotations, Translations

There is no part of your body that I do not know, there is no
part that I do not like. I want to keep being
the light stunned at the look of your white
roundness of flesh. I want to keep
living
in the beautiful city
that you are.

Nu a mai rămas nici o parte a corpului tău care să nu o cunosc, nici o
parte care să nu îmi placă. Aşi vrea să fiu de-a pururi
lumina înmărmurită, privind sideful
rotund al corpului tău. Aşi vrea de-a pururi
să trăiesc
în această cetate splendidă
care eşti Tu.

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Thirty five Years ago: Oriana Falacci interrogates Ayatollah Khomeini (1979)

December 31st, 2015 · Comments Off on Thirty five Years ago: Oriana Falacci interrogates Ayatollah Khomeini (1979) · Books, Diary, Famous People, History, OPINION, PEOPLE, quotations

Perhaps only one Western journalist ever managed to interview Ayatollah Khomeini twice. And from those long discussions we learned an enormous amount about the nature of the adamant theocracy that he was bent upon instituting. The second session was an achievement in itself, since Oriana had terminated the first one by wrenching off the all-enveloping chador she had been compelled to wear and calling it a:
“stupid, medieval rag.”
She told me that after this moment of drama she had been taken aside by Khomeini’s son, who confided in her that it had been the only time in his life that he had seen his father laugh.

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Poetry in Translation (CCCLXIX), GALICIA, SPAIN, Manuel Álvarez TORNEIRO (b. 1932): “On The Matter of Adagio, In tribute to Tomaso Albinoni”, “Adagio, Tribut lui Tomaso Albinoni”

December 21st, 2015 · No Comments · Books, Famous People, International Media, PEOPLE, Poetry, quotations, Translations, Uncategorized

The hour arborescent in the shelter of evening.
That voluptuous taffeta of sense
And life,
which binds severe moments.
A lit blade of grass touches the tremulous flesh,
elaborates the happy flowering of what’s lost.
Nothing is shipwrecked definitively.
The viola turns into sheer silk.
Great scars receive their oils.

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Poetry in Translation (CCCLXVIII), France, René DAUMAL (1908-1944): “Poème”, “Poem”

December 17th, 2015 · No Comments · Books, Famous People, International Media, PEOPLE, Poetry, quotations, Reviews, Translations

Voyant qu’on n’a rien, on essaye de se donner,
Essayant de se donner, on voit qu’on n’est rien,
Voyant qu’on est rien, on désire devenir,
Désirant devenir, on vit.
Văzând că nu am nimic, încerc să ofer,
Încercând să ofer, văd că sunt un nimic,
Văzând că sunt un nimic, doresc să devin,
Dorind să devin, trăiesc.

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Poetry in Translation (CCCLXVII), R. S. THOMAS (1913-2000), Wales: “Acting”, “Arta dramatică”

December 15th, 2015 · No Comments · Books, Famous People, International Media, PEOPLE, Poetry, quotations, Translations

Prompt me, God;
But not yet. When I speak,
Though it be you who speak
Through me, something is lost.
The meaning is in the waiting.

‘Kneeling’

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Poetry in Translation (CCCLXVI), Chidiock TICHBORNE (b. ca. 1562 ENGLAND- d. 1586 London), “ELEGY“, “ELEGIE”

December 14th, 2015 · No Comments · Famous People, History, PEOPLE, Poetry, POLITICAL DETENTION / DISSENT, quotations, Translations

I sought my death and found it in my womb,
I looked for life and saw it was a shade,
Moartea ce am visat o strâng la piept, ca pruncul.
Viaţa ce-am căutat n-a fost decât un mit…
Pe căi ce am umblat mi-am regăsit mormântul.
Acuma mor, în fine, dar sunt neîmplinit.
Pocalul ce-a fost plin acuma e golit…
Cândva am mai sperat, dar sunt un om sfârşit.
Rendered in Romanian by Constantin ROMAN, London,
© 2015 Copyright Constantin ROMAN

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Poetry in Translation (CCCLXV), Abu NUWAS (b. 756 AD, Ahvaz, PERSIA- d. 814 AD, Baghdad, Irak), “Libre et gaillard“, “Liber si ferice”

December 11th, 2015 · No Comments · Famous People, International Media, PEOPLE, Poetry, quotations, Translations

À peine y descendîmes-nous à petits pas,
Qu’une aube resplendit, où l’aube n’était pas :
Quelle vierge exhibée, à saveur longue et âpre,
Faveur pour les marchands, langueur des opiniâtres !
De-abea ne luară paşii, tiptil, vorbind în şoapte,
Când soarele apare sa ne orbească, frate,
Şi-o fiinţă androgină, c-un zâmbet trist şi aspru,
Dezlănţuie favoruri, cu gesturi de teatru.

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Poetry in Translation (CCCLXIV), Constantin OPRIŞAN (1921, co. BACĂU- 1959, JILAVA Political Prison, BUCHAREST, ROMANIA): “Vesperală”, “Vespers”

November 19th, 2015 · 1 Comment · Communist Prisons, Famous People, History, PEOPLE, Poetry, POLITICAL DETENTION / DISSENT, quotations, Translations

Vesperală
Constantin_Oprişan
Şi vântul, şi cântul, şi inima-mi frântă,
Şi toamna, şi frunza-şi trăiau agonia.
Tăcere… Un flaut mai cântă:
Maria, Maria, Maria!
The battered Soul is breaking,
Like tree leaves on Golgotha’s road.
As a prayer, a lone flute is singing,
Oh, Mary – the Mother of God!

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

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Poetry in Translation (CCCLXIII), Solomon ibn GABIROL aka AVICEBRON (ca 1021 – ca 1058), SPAIN / JEWISH ANDALUS: “Ask of Me”, “Cere-mi”

November 19th, 2015 · No Comments · Diaspora, Famous People, History, International Media, PEOPLE, Poetry, quotations, Translations

Ask of Me
Shlomo (Solomon) ibn GABIROL
Aka AVICEBRON
Ishmael’s offspring command
Back to his Arab land,
As his mother of old
To her mistress was told
To return and submit to her hand.

Şi precum Ismail l-a mânat
Să se-ntoarcă la câmpul arat,
Tot aşa muma lui, prea-bătrână,
Iubitei lui i-a strigat
Să se-ncline voinţei ei de stăpână.
Rendered in Romanian by Constantin ROMAN, London,
© 2015 Copyright Constantin ROMAN

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