quotations

Entries Tagged as 'quotations'

Romanian Dictionary of Quotations, Selected & Translated by Constantin ROMAN: Letter ‘E’

July 20th, 2013 · No Comments · Diaspora, International Media, PEOPLE, quotations, Translations

Eternity:
“I too have taken a few steps on the sands of Eternity.”
Constantin BRANCUSI

Exile:
“I cry, with Psalm 136, the captivity of Babylon. For me, like for the Jews deported to Babylon, it is no longer imaginable to write poems in exile. I lost my country, my people is captive. The exile shuts the mouth”
Virgil GHEORGHIU,
Exile:
“You are suffering for being far away from your kith and kin, from the sky and the land where you were born. You should know that one and the same sky covers our wounded land and that your exile is only an initiation. Do not be sad during your stay in Tomis, rather prepare yourself for the life beyond, the eternal life, which is not far, where suffering is unknown, as the time finds its meaning only within the confines of suffering.”
Vintila HORIA

Romanian Dictionary of Quotations, Selected & Translated by Constantin ROMAN: Letter ‘C’

July 19th, 2013 · No Comments · International Media, PEOPLE, quotations, Translations, Uncategorized

Chanel, Coco
“A woman who governs without parliament, for much longer than a minister. A woman who must take 400 decisions a year, whose jurisdiction enforces the law, beyond the frontiers of our country.”
Marthe Bibesco
“When we are no longer children, we are already dead.” Constantin BRANCUSI
“Take a circle and caress it – it will become vicious.”
Eugene Ionesco

Romanian Dictionary of Quotations, Selected & Translated by Constantin ROMAN: Letter ‘B’

July 18th, 2013 · No Comments · Books, Diaspora, International Media, PEOPLE, quotations, Translations

“A book is a delayed suicide.”
Emil CIORAN, (1911-1995), philosopher, writer

“I still have the Babel of this fabulous land in my ears: Romanian, Ukrainian, German, Yidish, Polish, Magyar, Armenian…”
Gregor von REZZORI, (1914-1998), Writer

Romanian Dictionary of Quotations, Selected & Translated by Constantin ROMAN: Letter ‘A’

July 16th, 2013 · No Comments · Books, PEOPLE, quotations, Translations

“Awake, awake Romanians from your lethargic sleep,
In which your foreign tyrants have sunken you so deep!
It’s either now or never to shape a fate for you,
To whose behest should cower your cruel enemies too!”
(Alexander Muresanu (1) (1816, Bistrita-Brasov, 1863),
Transylvanian poet, author of the national Anthem
(“Desteapta-te Romane”)

Poetry in Translation (CCI): Tzveta SOFRONIEVA (b. 1963, Bulgaria), BULGARIA & GERMANY, “When Zeus turned his back on her”, “Când Zeus i-a întors spatele”

July 5th, 2013 · No Comments · Diaspora, PEOPLE, Poetry, quotations, Translations, Uncategorized

Când Zeus i-a întors spatele
limba care era casa strămoşilor mei
acum e doar un fulg în aripa Europei:
oare zbura- va ca să-şi admire frumuseţea,
ca un Narcis, primăvara?

Poetry in Translation (CC): Muriel STUART (1885 – 1967), SCOTLAND, “Obsession”, “Obsesie”

June 29th, 2013 · No Comments · International Media, PEOPLE, Poetry, quotations, Translations

Obsession
Muriel Stuart

I will not have roses in my room again,
Nor listen to sonnets of Michael Angelo
To-night nor any night, nor fret my brain
With all the trouble of things that I should know.
I will be as other women–come and go
Careless and free, my own self sure and sane,
As I was once … then suddenly you were there
With your old power … roses were everywhere
And I was listening to Michael Angelo.

Obsesie
Muriel Stuart

M-am săturat de trandafiri în glastră
Sau să aud vre-un vers de Michel Angel,
Când zi de zi într-una mă apasă
Povara grijilor de ori ce fel.
Căci vreau să fiu cum sunt alte femei,
Destinsă şi de griji neîntinată,
Cum am mai fost… dar vai, din chiar senin,
Cu vechiul farmec, tu ai apărut …
Şi iarăşi trandafiri am pus în glastră
Iar Michel Ange-l iau de la-nceput.
(Rendered in Romanian by Constantin ROMAN, London,
© 2013 Copyright Constantin ROMAN)

Poetry in Translation (CXCIX): Laura TURCI (b. 1972), ITALY / ROMAGNA, “I Murt”, “Morţii”, “The Dead”

June 28th, 2013 · No Comments · PEOPLE, Poetry, quotations, Translations

Laura TURCI
Morţii
te privesc
din fotografiile mormintelor.
Prinşi într-un suflu, ei
rămân sigilaţi
în coşciuge de plumb,
transfiguraţi în suspine
de praf.

Curând, ei vor lua drumul
pe cărările vieţii,
să se ascundă
printre obiectele
lumeşti.

Tatăl meu,
acum un tată bun,
se odihneşte într-o saramură vânătă,
cu care se stropeşte via,
în orăcăitul broaştelor
şi zborul libelulelor.
de lângă râu.

(Rendered in Romanian by Constantin ROMAN, London,
© 2013 Copyright Constantin ROMAN)

Poetry in Translation (CXCVIII): Giovanni Maria CHERCHI (b. 1928), ITALY, SARDINIA, “S’attressu”, “Il passaggio”, “În marea trecere”

June 27th, 2013 · No Comments · International Media, PEOPLE, Poetry, quotations, Translations

Giovanni Maria CHERCHI

S’attraessu

Sas arveghes si movene dae tesu
appenas ilgiarende sas aeras
e pasa pasa in chirca de ricattu
si tuccan de su monte a s‘atter‘ala.
E nd’intendet sa zente a manzanile
s ‘attraessu ‘e sa ‘idda
e misciu a s ‘appeìttigu
s ‘appeddu de sos canes cun su ‘elidu
de anzones time time. Sos piseddos
iscultana su tinnulu
duiche ‘e sas ischiglias in su sonnu
e biden in sos bisos
— ca la tenen in coro — andendeche sa gama cara a sole
e bianca nida a supaschinzu nou.

IN MAREA TRECERE
Giovanni Maria CHERCHI
(b. 1928, Alghero, Sardinia)

În zorii zilei, din depărtare,
oile trec agale,
peste culmi,
spre pajişti noi.
Dimineaţa oamenii aud
turma trecând prin sat
în ritm de copite
cu mieii behăind
şi câinii lătrând.
În somnul lor, copiii aud
clopoţeii timizi ai mieilor,
în visul lor, închipuindu-şi
că le aud din inimă
în timp ce turma albă
se indreaptă către soare, spre pajişti nevăzute.
(Rendered in Romanian by Constantin ROMAN, London,
© 2013 Copyright Constantin ROMAN)

Poetry in Translation (CXCVII): D. H. LAWRENCE (1885 – 1930), ENGLAND, “December Night”, “Noapte de iarnă”

June 23rd, 2013 · No Comments · PEOPLE, Poetry, quotations, Translations

Poetry in Translation (CXCVII): D. H. LAWRENCE (1885 – 1930), ENGLAND, “December Night”, “Noapte de iarnă”

December Night
D. H. Lawrence (1885 – 1930)

Take off your cloak and your hat
And your shoes, and draw up at my hearth
Where never woman sat.
I have made the fire up bright;
Let us leave the rest in the dark
And sit by firelight.
The wine is warm in the hearth;
The flickers come and go.
I will warm your feet with kisses
Until they glow.

Noapte de iarnă
D. H. Lawrence (1885 – 1930)

Scoate- ţi paltonul, pălăria
Şi incălţările şi vino lângă sobă,
Acolo unde nimeni n-a pierdut mândria.
Şi-acuma să lăsăm totul în umbră,
În timp ce voi aprinde focul aprig,
Strângându-te la pieptu-mi, în penumbră;
Licoarea nopţii a pătruns în suflet,
Iar flăcările se rotesc în joacă.
Îţi voi cuprinde corpul cu săruturi
Până îţi voi încinge fiinţa toată.

(Rendered in Romanian by Constantin ROMAN, London,

Poetry in Translation (CXCVI): Eeva-Liisa MANNER, (1921 – 1995), FINLAND, “Assimilation”, “Integrare”

June 22nd, 2013 · No Comments · International Media, PEOPLE, Poetry, quotations, Translations

I will show you a way
that I have traveled.

If you come
If you come back some day
searching for me

do you see how everything shifts
a little every moment
and becomes less pretentious
and more primitive
(like pictures drawn by children
or early forms of life:
the soul’s alphabet)
you will come to a warm region
it is soft and hazy
but then I will no longer be me,
but the forest.
Îţi voi arăta drumul
care l-am urmat.

Dacă vei veni
Dacă vei veni într-o zi înapoi
căutându-mă
oare vezi cum lucrurile se schimbă
câte un pic în fiecare clipă
ca să devină mai puţin pretenţioase
şi mai naive
(aidoma desenelor de copii
sau formelor de viaţă primitive:
un alfabet al sufletului).
O să vii pe meleaguri calde
un aer blând în ceaţă
dar atunci eu nu voi mai fi eu,
ci doar codrul.

Centre for Romanian Studies