Centre for Romanian Studies

Arvo Turtiainen

Poetry in Translation (CLXXXVI): Arvo Turtianen (1904-1980), Finland, Poet, “Loveliest Poem”, “Cel mai frumos poem”

Arvo Turtianen (1904-1980)
LOVELIEST POEM

The loveliest poem is born
when you are close to someone,
when tenderness,
simple and boundless,
without questions
flows from one to the other.

You do not forget the loveliest poem.
It is stamped on your forehead, eyes,
lips and heart,
stamped for lovers to read,
for lovers to surrender

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Cel mai frumos poem
Arvo Turtiainen (1904-1980)

Cel mai frumos poem se înfiripă
când eşti alături de cineva,
când iubirea,
simplă şi nemărginită,
fără nici un semn de întrebare
se împărtăşeşte de amândoi.

Poemul cel mai frumos nu se uită.
El este înscris pe frunte, pe ochi,
pe buze şi inimă,
înscris, pentru ca toţi iubiţii să poată vedea,
să depună armele.

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

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SHORT BIO NOTE:
Arvo Turtiainen (1904-1980). Finish-born and bred in a working-class family of Helsinki, the poet embraced since early life the avowed ideals of Communism: it took him the best of half a century to disown them, after visits to the Soviet Union, China and the repression of the working class uprisings in Berlin, Warsaw and Prague. Turtiainen’s vernacular coarseness, and critical attitude towards society, was largely accepted as a part of his folksy, talkative character. He also wrote radio plays, essays, and translated such writer as Vladimir Mayakovsky, Graham Greene, Edgar Lee Masters, Walt Whitman, and Pasternak’s poems from Doctor Zhivago with Helvi Juvonen. In 1973 Turtiainen was made honorary doctor at the University of Helsinki.