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Poetry in Translation (CCXXVII): Theo DORGAN, (b. 1953, Cork), IRELAND, “A Slow Poem”, “Sfială”

November 22nd, 2013 · International Media, PEOPLE, Poetry, quotations, Translations

Poetry in Translation (CCXXVII): Theo DORGAN, (b. 1953, Cork), IRELAND, “A Slow Poem”, “Sfială”

modigliani-3

A Slow Poem
Theo Dorgan

I place my finger with great care
on the sleeping magnificent body of my beloved.
The room is quiet and huge, the air still, so still
I hear dust motes falling like leaves on the counterpane.

I stop my breathing and she fills me up
with swell of breath, the rise and fall of tides
so quiet and silver there, I am carried up and out of touch;

and she is far below me, curled into me,
her skin sufficient boundary, her dreams and trouble stilled.
Her troubles become diamond in my chest, I tip and balance

here beneath the ceiling, full of airy, thoughtful love, then fall
as slowly as leaves falling on a field,
until I settle there beside her, breathing her breath.

© 1995, Theo Dorgan
From: What This Earth Cost Us
Publisher: Dedalus, Dublin, 2008
ISBN: 9781904556930

Sfială
Theo DORGAN

Degetul meu atinge cu sfială
corpul minunat, al iubitei visând.
Încăperea e mare, atât de mare, încât aerul stă încremenit,
şi aud fluturii nopţii lovind geamul, ca frunzele toamnei.

Când ea mă cuprinde cu valul suflului ei,
răsuflarea mea e tăiată, ca fluxul şi refluxul,
învolburat, purtându-mă sus, în larg;

iar ea, se încolaceşte, adânc în trupul meu,
doar pielea făcând zăgaz, cu visul şi grijile ei alinate.
Tulburarea – este o piatră nestemată în pieptul meu, în timp ce eu înclin balanţa,

privind tavanul, plin de o desfătare caldă, exaltată, ca apoi doar să cad,
ca frunzele acoperind câmpul,
stând întins lângă ea, respirând suflarea ei.

Romanian version by:
Constantin ROMAN, London,
© 2013, Copyright Constantin ROMAN

theo-dorgan BIO NOTE:
Theo Dorgan (b. 1953) is an Irish poet, writer and lecturer, translator, librettist and documentary screenwriter. He currently lives in Dublin.

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Poetry in Translation (CCXXVI): Mireia CALAFELL, (b. 1980, Barcelona), Catalonia, Spain, “Mâna neatingând mâna”, “ Hand not touching hand … ”

November 22nd, 2013 · Diaspora, International Media, PEOPLE, Poetry, quotations, Translations

Poetry in Translation (CCXXVI): Mireia CALAFELL, (b. 1980, Barcelona), CATALONIA, Spain, “Mâna neatingând mâna”, “ Hand not touching hand … ”

Mireia Calafell

Mireia Calafell

Mâna neatingând mâna
Mireia CALAFELL,
(b. 1980, Barcelona, Spain),
Poet Catalan

Mâna neatingând mâna, pielea neatingând pielea,
doar gustul misterului care se dizolvă în cerul gurii,
în pauze inundate de atâta melancolie,
tremurând de frigul ce nu-l pot înfrunta,
dealungul acestor nopţi albe, cu obloanele trase.

Ochi nesărutând ochi, versuri de foc
în măduva oaselor, în măduva iubirii,
corp plin de parfum
pe silueta gâtului,
profil adumbrit, aşteptând, în confortul aşternutului.

Îţi scriu doar să-ţi spun că o sa te desluşesc, o să te devorez,
ca să parcurg lungul drum, prescris de soartă,
să te cuprind într-un singur cuvânt, dând bice delirului,
în timp ce ne vom ascunde sub orologiul
care recită versuri,
strângându-ne la piept, la nesfârşit.

Îţi scriu doar să-ţi spun, dacă te-aş desluşi, te-as strânge în braţe,
dar tu nu mai vei fi aici: vei fi început să te desprinzi de mine.

(Romanian version by:
Constantin ROMAN, London,
© 2013, Copyright Constantin ROMAN

HAND NOT TOUCHING HAND
(Mans que no es toquen)

Hand not touching hand; skin not speaking to skin,
and on the palate aftertaste of a secret that melts
among silences clouded with so much melancholy,
trembling because of the cold you are not here to combat,
these nights of blanched sheets, of shut fast windows.
Eyes not kissing eyes, verses that burn
in the marrow of the bone, in the marrow of desire,
a body that presents as a woman in a dress
with unpicked neckline freckles,
lone profile that searches for you on the pillow.
I write that I might read you. And devour you.
To overcome distance that fate has decreed,
to make you into a word, to propose delirium
while we hide from the world under the clocks
reciting the verses
that meld us in a long embrace.
I write that I might hear you, might hold you.
But you are not here, already you have begun to leave.

(English version by Theo Dorgan, Ireland)

Mans que no es toquen

Mans que no es toquen, pells que no parlen,
i al paladar el pòsit d’un secret que es desfarà
entre silencis emboirats de tanta melangia
tremolosa pel fred que no véns a combatre
les nits de llencols blancs i finestres tancades.

Ulls que no es besen, versos que cremen
desats al moll de l’os i del desig
d’un cos que fa de dona en els vestits
de pigues descosides a l’escot
i perfils solitaris que et busquen al coixí.

Escric per llegir-te. I devorar-te.
Per vèncer la distància que ha imposat l’atzar,
per convertir-te en mot i proposar deliris
amagant-nos del món sota els rellotges
i recitar després els versos
que ens confondran en l’abracada.

Escric per escoltar-te. I retenir-te.
Però no hi ets i ja te’n vas.

Mireia Calafell, Poètiques del Cos
Publicado por LG

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Poetry in Translation (CCXXV): ANONYMOUS British Poet, “If only … ”, “De aş fi doar…”

November 18th, 2013 · Diaspora, International Media, PEOPLE, Poetry, quotations, Translations

Poetry in Translation (CCXXV): ANONYMOUS British Poet, “If I only … ”, “De aş fi doar…”

IF poem

IF only …
(British Anonymous)

If only I were a mint leaf,
in your cocktail glass,
I would add freshness
to your eyes…

If only I were a glazed cherry,
adding a touch of colour,
I would bring a sweet-bitter taste
to your palate …

If only I were a bitter lemon
in your signature cocktail,
I would add a touch of reality
to our stormy Love …

If only I were an ice cube,
cajoled in your shaker,
I would extinguish the fire
of your burning desire …

If only …

(Collected by Constantin ROMAN, London,
© 2013, Copyright Constantin ROMAN)

IF poem 3

De aş fi doar….
(Poet Britanic Anonim)

De aş fi doar
un fir de mentă,
garnisind cocteilul tău,
atunci aş aduce prospeţime
privirii tale.

De aş fi doar
o cireaşă glasată,
adăugând un accent de culoare,
atunci aş aduce un gust dulce-amar
buzelor tale.

De aş avea un iz de ‘bitter-lemon’,
în cocteilul meu emblematic,
atunci realitatea ar reflecta
dragostea noastră tumultoasă.

De aş fi doar un cub de ghiaţă,
adăugat în paharul tău,
atunci aş stinge focul
buzelor tale arzătoare.

De aş fi doar…

Versiune în limba Română
de Constantin ROMAN,
© 2013, Copyright Constantin ROMAN, London

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Poetry in Translation (CCXXIV): Orhan VELI KANIK, (1914-1950), ISTANBUL, “Fish in a Bottle of Booze”, “Peşte intr-o sticlă de brandy”

November 18th, 2013 · Books, International Media, PEOPLE, Poetry, quotations, Translations

Poetry in Translation (CCXXIV): Orhan VELI KANIK, (1914-1950), ISTANBUL, “Fish in a Bottle of Booze”, “Peşte intr-o sticlă de brandy”

Orhan Veli Kanik

Orhan Veli Kanik


Orhan VELI KANIK
(1914, Istanbul – November 14, 1950, Istanbul)

I buy old clothes.
I buy old clothes and cut them into stars.
Music is the food of love.
I love music.

I write poetry.
I write poetry and buy old clothes.
I sell old clothes and buy music;
If I could also be a fish in a bottle of booze…

(English version by Murat Nemet-Nejat)

"... fish in a bottle of booze..."

“… fish in a bottle of booze…”

Peşte intr-o sticlă de brandy
Orhan VELI KANIK
(1914 – 1950, Istanbul)

Cumpăr straie vechi.
Cumpăr haine vechi şi le croiesc in stele.
Muzica este hrana iubirii.
Ador muzica.

Scriu versuri.
Scriu versuri şi cumpăr haine vechi.
Vând haine vechi ca să cumpăr muzică.
O, dac-aş putea, doar, să fiu un peşte intr-o sticlă de brandy …

(English version by
Constantin ROMAN, London,
© 2013, Copyright Constantin ROMAN)

Orhan Veli Book SHORT BIO: Kanık, more often referred to as Orhan Veli, was the leading modernist in Turkish poetry in the 1940’s. Few literary upheavals have had an impact comparable to that produced by the stylistic and substantive innovations he made in Turkish poetry, a tradition which dates back to the 8th century A.D. (Even earlier references in Chinese sources allude to translations from Turkish poetry in the 2nd century B.C.) Within the decade or so that spanned his career, Orhan Veli revolutionized not only the form and content but also the function of Turkish poetry.
Orhan Veli Kanık was the “enfant terrible” of the Turkish literary world, during the 1940s. His vitality had seemed indestructible, his personality a catalytic force on the Turkish scene. Kanık’s poems reaffirmed faith in the sheer joy of being alive. Some of his lines were so well-known that they had become household phrases. The lucid colloquialism, the humor and verve, the effective but gentle satire of his verse were such celebrations of life that Kanık and death seemed irreconcilable. After a moving funeral ceremony, Orhan Veli Kanık was buried on a hill overlooking the Bosphorus as though in death, as in life, he would be “listening to Istanbul” and rejoicing in its beauty.
Kanık was the leading modernist in Turkish poetry in the 1940s. Few literary upheavals have had an impact comparable to that produced by the stylistic and substantive innovations he made in Turkish poetry, a tradition which dates back to the 8th century A.D. (Even earlier references in Chinese sources allude to translations from Turkish poetry in the 2nd century B.C.) Within the decade or so that spanned his career, Orhan Veli revolutionized not only the form and content, but also the function of Turkish poetry.
(extract from: http://www.orhanveli.net/talathalman/introduction.html)

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Poetry in Translation (CCXXIII): ANONYMOUS, BRITISH Poet, “Lament”

November 15th, 2013 · Diaspora, International Media, PEOPLE, Poetry, quotations

Poetry in Translation (CCXXIII): ANONYMOUS, BRITISH Poet, “Lament”

Lament

Lament

LAMENT

Gone are the hopes
In morning’s mist,
Unfolding
London’s spell.
In all my dreams,
Of days gone bye,
Am longing
More and more…
Of our trysts
Do hope, in vain,
In one more night
Of love!

(Chelsea, November 16)

night of love

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Poetry in Translation (CCXXII): Giosue Carducci, (1835-1907), ITALY, Poet, “Inno a Satana”, “Imn Satanei”, “Hymn To Satan” (fragment)

November 14th, 2013 · International Media, Poetry, quotations, Translations

Poetry in Translation (CCXXII): Giosuè Carducci, (1835-1907), ITALY, Poet, “Inno a Satana”, “Imn Satanei”, “Hymn To Satan” (fragment)

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Inno a Satana
(frammento)
Giosuè Carducci
(1835-1907)

A te, dell’essere
principio immenso,
materia e spirito,
ragione e senso;

mentre ne’ calici
il vin scintilla
sì come l’anima
nella pupilla;

mentre sorridono
la terra e ’l sole
e si ricambiano
d’amor parole,

e corre un fremito
d’imene arcano
da’ monti e palpita
fecondo il piano;

a te disfrenasi
il verso ardito,
te invoco, o Satana,
re del convito.

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Imn Satanei
Giosué Carducci
(1835-1907)
(Fragment)

Ţie-ţi ofer pocalul,
acestui Univers;
materie şi spirit,
cu sens şi raţiune;

Căci îţi închin,
cu cinste,
tăria reflectând
a gândului privire;

Când Soarele şi Terra
îşi schimbă-n
dulci surâsuri
cuvinte de amor,

Atunci în trup palpită
un himen de arcane
din munte spre câmpie
în solul roditor;

Iar eu îţi fac ofranda
de gânduri desfrânate
când te invoc, Satană
Domniţă a Ispitei.

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

110661.p

Hymn To Satan
Giosuè Carducci
(1835-1907)
(fragment)

To you, creation’s
mighty principle,
matter and spirit
reason and sense

Whilst the wine
sparkles in cups
like the soul
in the eye

Whilst earth and
sun exchange
their smiles and
words of love

And shudders
from their secret embrace run down
from the mountains, and
the plain throbs with new life

To you my daring
verses are unleashed,
you I invoke, O Satan
monarch of the feast.

la-poetica-di-giosue-carducci_674877aa413a15f16db43bf6aa0a8547 SHORT BIO:
Giosuè Carducci (1835-1907) was born near Pisa. From early age he was attracted to ancient Classic and Italian authors, in particular Dante, Tasso, and Alfieri. After several years following his graduation from the University of Pisa, he was appointed to the chair of Italian Literature at the University of Bologna, a post he held until his retirement in 1904.

His strong revolutionary tendency expressed in his “Inno a Satana” (1865) “Hymn to Satan”, reflects his free thought and of modern ideas, imagination, and revolutions.
Carducci was a translator of Goethe and Heine who influenced the development of his own poetry. He was also a noted literary historian and an eminent orator, leading an active political life. An honorary citizen of Bologna, Carducci was elected to the Senate, where he served as deputy in the House of Representatives.

Giosuè Carducci’s poetry inspired his compatriots in the war for Italian Independence, and he enjoyed an immense popularity both at home and abroad. He stands as the greatest Italian literary figure in the latter part of the nineteenth century.

Carducci’s 1906 Nobel Prize for Literature was awarded “not only in consideration of his deep learning and critical research, but above all as a tribute to the creative energy, freshness of style, and lyrical force which characterize his poetic masterpieces”.

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Poetry in Translation (CCXXI): Anonymous, British Author, “Follow Your Path”

November 10th, 2013 · Diaspora, International Media, PEOPLE, Poetry, quotations, Translations

Poetry in Translation (CCXXI): Anonymous British Author, “Follow Your Path”

Follow your Path

Follow your Path


To G.A.
Follow Your Path
(British Anonymous)

Please, just follow your Calling,
In these sorrowful Moments,
Which are, often, so Brittle,
Yet, reflect our Love.

For I hope you will worship
Our fragile Illusions,
Though we live in the Present,
Just to steal passing Dreams.

As you reach newer Havens,
To forget our Passion,
I shall still be your Beacon
Lighting your Road ahead!

For I will guide your Yearning,
To attain new Horizons,
Whilst I’ll try to Extinguish
All I cherished in You.

© 2013, Copyright Constantin ROMAN

Constantin ROMAN

Constantin ROMAN

SHORT BIO: CONSTANTIN ROMAN is a Romanian-born British author residing in London, where he was trained as a Scientist and Linguist.
Educated privately and at the Universities of Bucharest, Newcastle and Cambridge, he was a Scholar of Peterhouse, the oldest Cambridge College, founded in 1284.
As a published Author in numerous Science and Arts periodicals ROMAN had contributed a significant number of Translations of Poetry, from English, French, Italian and Spanish into Romanian, as well as from Romanian into English and French.
Constantin is the founder of the Centre for Romanian Studies (London), published on-line since 1990.
For a number of years Constantin ROMAN lived in France, Norway, Holland and Indonesia and traveled extensively throughout Europe, North and South America, Asia and North Africa, as guest speaker to Academia, Industry and Government Institutions.

ROMAN had published books and articles in scientific journals (Nature, New Scientist, Geophysical Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society, etc.), as well as in newspapers and magazines (The Times, Cambridge Review, Encounter, Glasgow Herald, Argia, Revista Monumentelor Istorice, Revista Muzeelor, Manuscriptum, etc.) on a variety of subjects relating to History of Art, Architecture, Conservation, Poetry, Linguistics, and Earth Sciences (Seismology, Geodynamics, Plate Tectonics, Basin Analysis and Petroleum Geology). On the latter subject he successfully published for Celtic Petroleum, a Partnership he founded in 1978, a limited edition of Technical Studies, acquired by multinational companies world-wide.

Over his career Constantin had acted as International Adviser to over 50 major International Oil Companies, worldwide and acted as a Personal Adviser (Energy) to Professor Emil Constantinescu, President of Romania (1996-2000).

ROMAN is a Commander of the Order of Merit (Romania, 2000), Doctor Honoris Causa (U. of Bucharest, 1997) and a Visiting Professor of the University of Bucharest, where he delivered “The ROMAN Lectures”.
He was a Guest Speaker at the World Bank and IMF (Washington DC), The Romanian Academy, The Geological Society (London), Dallas Geological Society, The Petroleum Exploration Society of Great Britain and numerous other Institutions of world repute.

Constantin’s Home is in London, where he contrives to indulge in serendipity and esoterism.

Constantin Roman: "Continental Drift, Colliding Continents, Converging Cultures"

Constantin Roman: “Continental Drift, Colliding Continents, Converging Cultures”

"Blouse Roumaine- une anthologie des femmes de Roumanie" par Constantin ROMAN

“Blouse Roumaine- une anthologie des femmes de Roumanie” par Constantin ROMAN

Deriva, sau Sfidarea Idiocratiei

Deriva, sau Sfidarea Idiocratiei

"Blouse Romaine - The Unsung Voices of Romanian Women"

“Blouse Romaine – The Unsung Voices of Romanian Women”

peterhousecover VOX-Cover

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Poetry in Translation (CCXX): Aleksandr SOLZHENITSYN (1918-2008), Russian Poet, “Confession”, “Spovedanie”

November 7th, 2013 · International Media, PEOPLE, Poetry, quotations, Translations

Poetry in Translation (CCXX): Aleksandr SOLZHENITSYN (1918-2008), Russian Poet, “Confession”, “Spovedanie”

St. Vladimir Cathedral, Kiev

St. Vladimir Cathedral, Kiev

Confession
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
(1918-2008)

How easy it is to live with You, O Lord.
How easy to believe in You.
When my spirit is overwhelmed within me,
When even the keenest see no further than the night,
And know not what to do tomorrow,
You bestow on me the certitude
That You exist and are mindful of me,
That all the paths of righteousness are not barred.
As I ascend in to the hill of earthly glory,
I turn back and gaze, astonished, on the road
That led me here beyond despair,
Where I too may reflect Your radiance upon mankind.
All that I may reflect, You shall accord me,
And appoint others where I shall fail.

Prodigal Son

Prodigal Son

Spovedanie
Aleksandr SOLZHENITSYN
(1918-2008)

Ce liniştit e să trăiesc lângă Tine, Doamne!
Ce minunat să cred în Tine.
Când duhul meu este copleşit în piept,
Când nici măcar ochiul aprig nu pătrunde bezna nopţii.
Neştiind să infrunte ziua de mâine,
Tu îmi dai încredere,
Căci Tu exişti să mă iei în paza Ta,
Să-mi deschizi cărările dreptăţii necurmate.
Şi cum mă urc pe creasta gloriei lumeşti
Să privesc înapoi, uimit de drumul străbătut,
Ce m-a-ndreptat spre Tine, învingând disperarea,
Atunci, la rându-mi, pot oglindi Omenirii lumina Ta.
Căci imi vei dărui tot ce voi oglindi,
Iar de voi greşi, mă vei alunga.

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

Solzhenitsyn

Solzhenitsyn

Short Bio: Aleksandr SOLZHENITSYN (1918-2008). One of the Soviet Union’s most vocal dissidents, he authored the epic 300,000-word Gulag Archipelago, which captured the terrible cruelty that he and fellow prisoners endured as inmates of Soviet prison camps.

After his 1974 expulsion from the U.S.S.R., Solzhenitsyn fled to Europe and then the United States. Animated by a deeply spiritual and moral vision of the world, he was disappointed by the increasingly secular and commercial culture of the U.S. and in 1978, he gave a controversial commencement address at Harvard University in which he denounced both the East and West for their spiritual lacking. “We have placed too much hope in political and social reforms, only to find we were being deprived of our most precious possession: our spiritual life. In the East, it is destroyed by the dealings and machinations of the ruling party. In the West, commercial interests tend to suffocate it. This is the real crisis.
(Extract from: “Dissent – A Quarterly of Politics and Culture”)

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Cameo: Queen Anne de Romania, Princess of Denmark and of Bourbon-Parme

November 7th, 2013 · Diaspora, Genealogy, Genealogy, PEOPLE

King Mihai de Romania and Anne Princess of Denmark and of Bourbon-Parme

King Mihai de Romania and Anne Princess of Denmark and of Bourbon-Parme

Anne de Bourbon-Parme, Queen of Romania, is a descendant of Jeremy Movila, Voyevode of Moldavia, via Maria Leczynska Queen of Louis XV of France and through their descendants to the Bourbon-Parme branch of the French and Danish Royal Families.
Prince Ieremia Movila was a great patron of the arts and founder of the painted monasteries of Bucovina. During his reign the Principality of Moldavia experienced a Rennaissance of its decorative arts, especially the post-Byzantine religious embroideries.
——————–
Regina Ana, Printesa de Danemarca si de Bourbon-Parma se trage, asa cum spune numele, din Bourboni, mai precis din ramura spaniola a Bourbonilor care erau si Duci de Parma.

Pornind pe linie directa ascendenta a familiei de Bourbon-Parma, deci pe linie barbateasca, ajungem la Ferdinand I de Bourbon, Duce de Parma (1751-1802) nepotul Lui Filip V regele Spaniei si Duce de Anjou (1683, Versailles – 1746 Madrid).
Acest Ferdinand I Infante de Spania (1751-1802), care preceda cu sase generatii pe Ana de Bourbon-Parma a noastra [sper si a domniei tale] era casatorit cu printesa Louise Elisabeth de France (1727-1759), fiica lui Ludovic al XV regele Frantei si a sotiei lui Maria Leczynska, (1703-1768) regina Frantei, care, la randul ei, era fiica lui Stanislas Lesczynski regele Poloniei si Duce de Lorena (1677-1766).

Maria Leszczynska

Maria Leszczynska

Acum, ca sa ajungem la Movilesti, trebuie sa trecem pe ramurile femeiesti:
bunica materna a lui Stanislas Lesczinski (socrul lui Ludovic XV) era Maria Ana Printesa Jablonowska (1643-1687) nascuta contesa Kasanowska, iar bunica materna a acesteia din urma era Domnita Maria Movila ( 1591-1638) (fata lui Ieremia Voda), domnita moldoveanca al carui sot era Contele Stefan Potocki, Palatin de Wroclaw si prin care casatorie era cunoscuta in Polonia drept “Marya Mohylanka”.
Prince Ieremia Movila

Prince Ieremia Movila

Aceasta inseamna, bine inteles, ca prin stramosii ei Movilesti, Regina Ana de Romania se trage, prin Iermia Voda Movila, chiar din Petru Rares si din Stefan cel Mare si Sfant, iar prin acesta din urma din Dragos Voda primul descalecator al Moldovei.

Despre domnita Maria Movila, contesa Potocka, ne vorbeste istoricul Constantin GANE (1885-1962) in celebra lui lucrare “Trecute Vieti de Doamne si Domnite”.

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Poetry in Translation (CCXIX): Vasko POPA (1922-1991), SERBIAN -VLACH, Poet of Serbo-Croat Expression, “Soare Orb”, “Blind Sun”

November 4th, 2013 · Books, Diaspora, International Media, PEOPLE, Poetry, quotations, Translations

Poetry in Translation (CCXIX): Vasko POPA (1922-1991), SERBIAN -VLACH, Poet of Serbo-Croat Expression, “Soare Orb”, “Blind Sun”

Vasko Popa Poems

Vasko Popa Poems


Soare Orb

Vasko Popa
(1922, Grebenaţ, Voivodina, Serbia – 1991, Belgrad, Serbia),
(Poet Vlah de expresie Serbo-Croată)

Două raze oloage
Poartă soarele orb.

Dimineaţa s-a dus la muncă
Pe cealaltă coastă a cerului.
Nu stă în pragul ei.

Amiaza a decăzut.
Benchetuieşte cu fulgerele.
Nu-i niciodată acasă.

Seara, s-a dus în lume
Cu patu-n cârcă.
Cerşeşte pe-un astru.

Numai Noaptea a ieşit
Cu braţele deschise
In întâmpinarea soarelui orb.

Source – “Adelydda”:
http://www.versuri-si-creatii.ro/poezii/p/vasko-popa-6zutuct/soare-orb-6zucuct.html#.Undn2iTyuCl

Vasko Popa Penguin Edition

Vasko Popa
Penguin Edition

Blind Sun
(Vasko POPA)
(1922 – 1991)
(Romanian-Vlach Poet
of Serbo-Croat expression)

Two blighted legs
Holding a blind Sun.

The morning rays – gone to work
On the other side of the sky,
Rather than its threshold.

The Noon is beyond the Pale.
Cavorting with thunders,
She’s never at home.

The evening takes to the road,
The bedstead on her back,
She’s begging on some constellation.

Only the Night appears,
With outstretched arms,
To welcome a blind Sun.

Rendered in English by
Constantin ROMAN, London,
© 2013, Copyright Constantin ROMAN

Vasko POPA

Vasko POPA

SHORT BIO NOTE:
Vasko Popa (1922 – 1991) was a Serbian poet, (of Vlach descent*), born in Vršac. Ted Hughes, who did not speak Serbo-Croat, first came to read Popa’s poetry in English translation in 1964 and was immediately impressed. Hughes never attempted to translate Popa but was always a great supporter of his work, including a selection of his poems in the very first issue of Modern Poetry in Translation in 1965. Four years later, Hughes wrote his ‘Introduction’ to Popa’s Selected Poems, a piece of criticism which tells one as much, if not more, about Hughes as it does about Popa.
In this introduction, Hughes seems particularly taken by what he calls Popa’s ‘folk-tale surrealism,’ and the way that Popa combines a strangeness of imagery with familiar, down-to-earth observations. Hughes also notes Popa’s successful use of certain devices, such as ‘the little fable of visionary anecdote’, and a tendency to write in cycles, and there is much evidence of the influence that these aspects of Popa’s poetry may have had on Hughes’s own writing, especially in collections such as Crow and Gaudete.

(Text credit: http://www.thetedhughessociety.org/news.htm
‘Vasko Popa’ in: ‘The Ted Hughes Society Journal’,
by Tara Bergin (PhD Student at Newcastle University)

*) Editor’s note

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