London

Entries Tagged as 'London'

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

November 18th, 2013 · Comments Off on Poetry in Translation (CCXXV): ANONYMOUS British Poet, “If only … ”, “De aş fi doar…” · Diaspora, International Media, PEOPLE, Poetry, quotations, Translations

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

If 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)

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

November 15th, 2013 · Comments Off on Poetry in Translation (CCXXIII): ANONYMOUS, BRITISH Poet, “Lament” · Diaspora, International Media, PEOPLE, Poetry, quotations

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)

Collection of Antique Prints and Engravings (16thc – 19th c), (Part II)

November 2nd, 2013 · Comments Off on Collection of Antique Prints and Engravings (16thc – 19th c), (Part II) · Art Collections, Art Exhibitions, Diaspora, International Media, OPINION, PEOPLE, Reviews

From a prima facie evidence it seems that this collection is not matched by similar efforts in the public domain, either in Romania, or elsewhere. The Victoria and Albert Museum in London, also has not got this material although it covers immediately adjacent areas, such as the Levant and the Middle East, through the recent acquisition of a collection from a retired Shell executive.
The late Professor’s Oprescu’s collection, given to the Romanian Academy Prints Department, has some beautiful examples of watercolours and sketches, some by Count Prezziosi, but does not overlap with our prints. Prince Nicholas of Romania’s collection of maps has been dispersed soon after the Second World War. Sadly “Ceausescu’s surrogate “Muzeul Colectiilor” of Calea Victoriei, in Bucharest has relegated an important inter-war collection of historic engravings, donated by a private collector, to a “deposit” in a damp basement, sadly forgotten and most certainly ruined: such is the wisdom of our Wallachian luminaries, otherwise, known as “boierii mintii”(…).

Collection of Antique Prints and Engravings (16thc – 19th c), (Part I)

October 29th, 2013 · 1 Comment · Diaspora, International Media, PEOPLE, Reviews

Constantin ROMAN bought his first prints whilst a postgraduate student in Cambridge, in the early 1970s, when very few people were interested in the subject and prices were accessible. Over the following thirty years, as a Geophysicist, he had the opportunity to travel extensively and added substantially to his collection, mostly from dealers in England, France and Holland. His particular interest concentrated on images from the Ottoman Empire in Europe, with emphasis on Wallachia and Moldavia (the Lower Danube and the Carpathians) as well as the Eastern part of the Habsburg Empire, (the Principality of Transylvania). Auxiliary themes of a wider regional interest (Polish, Russian, Balkan, Hungarian, Austrian, Turkish) are also present.

Subject Matter:

The subject of the collection has a strong topographical interest. It consists of maps (including plans of battles and strategic fortifications), views (landscapes and townscapes), costumes, portraits of historical characters, scenes of social and political interest, architectural / natural monuments, political cartoons of the 19th century, etc.

Poetry in Translation (CCXV): Anonymous, ROMANIA, “The Ecologic Princess and Prince Charming“, “Prinţesa Ecologică şi Făt Frumos”

September 23rd, 2013 · Comments Off on Poetry in Translation (CCXV): Anonymous, ROMANIA, “The Ecologic Princess and Prince Charming“, “Prinţesa Ecologică şi Făt Frumos” · International Media, Poetry, quotations, Translations, Uncategorized

Once upon a time,
In far-away lands,
There was a beautiful princess
Who just found a frog
Whilst she was contemplating ecologic aspects,
On the shore of an unpolluted lake,
In a green meadow
(recently re-granted by the Constitutional Court).

A fost odată
Ca nici odată
Şi dacă n-ar fi
Nu s-ar povesti.
A fost odată,
Pe meleaguri îndepărtate,
O mandră prinţesă
Care tocmai zări o broască,
În timp ce contempla aspecte ecologice,
Pe malul unui lac nepoluat,
Dintr-o luncă verde,
Lâng-un vechi castel,
(Restituit de Curtea Constituţională).

Adaptare liberă după un poet Anglo-Saxon anonim,
Copyright Constantin ROMAN, London, 2009

What has President Nicolas Maduro got in common with the late (dearly departed) President Nicolae Ceausescu?

September 22nd, 2013 · Comments Off on What has President Nicolas Maduro got in common with the late (dearly departed) President Nicolae Ceausescu? · Books, Diaspora, International Media, OPINION, PEOPLE, Poetry, quotations, Translations

Christmas Carol, 1980 –
(A Parody sung by Romanian Gypsy Children)

Father Christmas we do beg
Bring us butter, bring us egg.
If you ever come on foot
Bring some cabbage, or beetroot
If your bag is large enough
Add some maize and garlic cloves.
Christmas Father don’t miss either
The potatoes and the flour.
Should you come, though, in a sleigh
Don’t forget for the New Year
Toilet paper that’s so sparse,
To wipe at least our arse.”

Poetry in Translation (CLXXXIV): Jacques PRÉVERT (1900 – 1977), France, Poet: “Cântecul Senei”, “Chanson de la Seine ”

April 18th, 2013 · Comments Off on Poetry in Translation (CLXXXIV): Jacques PRÉVERT (1900 – 1977), France, Poet: “Cântecul Senei”, “Chanson de la Seine ” · Poetry, quotations, Translations

Jacques PRÉVERT
Chanson de la Seine

La Seine a de la chance
Elle n’a pas de souci
Elle se la coule douce
Le jour comme la nuit
Et elle sort de sa source
Tout doucement, sans bruit…
Sans sortir de son lit
Et sans se faire de mousse,
Elle s’en va vers la mer
En passant par Paris.

Ce noroc are Sena
Fiind lispită de griji
Şi se duce la vale,
Fără zor, zi de zi,
Când din munţi izvoreşte
Liniştită, tiptil…
Fiindu-i grije să fie
Între maluri curgând,
Să ajungă la mare,
Prin Paris străbătând.
(Rendered in Romanian by Constantin ROMAN
© 2013 Copyright Constantin ROMAN)

Poetry in Translation (CLXVII): Rabindranath TAGORE (1861 – 1941), India, – “A Moment’s Indulgence”, “O clipă de împlinire”

February 5th, 2013 · Comments Off on Poetry in Translation (CLXVII): Rabindranath TAGORE (1861 – 1941), India, – “A Moment’s Indulgence”, “O clipă de împlinire” · International Media, PEOPLE, Poetry, Translations

Poetry in Translation (CLXVII): Rabindranath TAGORE (1861 – 1941), India, – “A Moment’s Indulgence”,
“O clipă de împlinire”

Rogu-te, doar o clipă de bună voinţă, ca să stau lângă tine. Lucrul
ce am de împlinit, poate rămâne pe mai târziu.

Departe de icoana feţei tale, sufletul meu n-are nici odihnă, nici răgaz,
iar munca mea devine o corvoadă nesfârșită, într-un ocean de trudă neţărmurită.

Astăzi, vara, cu suspine ei, a venit la fereastra mea, în timp ce
albinele îsi cântă zumzetul lor, la curtea majestoasă a crângului înflorit.

Acum e timpul să ne privim, față în față, și să înălţăm
cântul vieții, în această clipă liberă, debordând de împliniri.

Poetry in Translation (CLII): Jan CAMPERT (1902 – 1943), The Netherlands – “Song of the Eighteen Dead”, (fragment), “Prohod la douăzeci de morţi”

December 24th, 2012 · Comments Off on Poetry in Translation (CLII): Jan CAMPERT (1902 – 1943), The Netherlands – “Song of the Eighteen Dead”, (fragment), “Prohod la douăzeci de morţi” · PEOPLE, Poetry, quotations, Translations

Jan Campert (1902-1943, Netherlands
The Song of the Eigtheen Dead
A cell is but six feet long
and hardly six feet wide,
yet smaller is the patch of ground,
that I now do not yet know,
but where I nameless come to lie,
my comrades all and one,
we eighteen were in number then,
none shall the evening see come.

Prohod la douăzeci de morţi
În temniţa ce m-au închis
de-abea mă pot mişca,
toţi în picioare-nghesuiţi,
încât nu ştiu cum voi putea,
nevolnic să imi fac culcuş,
pe umeda podea.
Noi douăzeci eram atunci,
dar seara nimenea.
(Rendered in Romanian by Constantin ROMAN, London
© 2012, Copyright Constantin ROMAN)

Poetry in Translation (XCVII): Gabriela Melinescu, “Birth of Constellations” (Ivirea Stelelor)

October 23rd, 2011 · Comments Off on Poetry in Translation (XCVII): Gabriela Melinescu, “Birth of Constellations” (Ivirea Stelelor) · Diaspora, PEOPLE, Poetry, quotations, Translations

[caption id="attachment_3546" align="aligncenter" width="132" caption="Gabriela Melinescu (b. 1942, Romania) Swedish Romanian Poet, Exile"]

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Poetry in Translation (XCVII): Gabriela Melinescu, “Birth of Constellations” (Ivirea Stelelor)

Other people are born here, on Earth,
In a fresh scent of salt and milk.
The buds burst out biting the twigs,
With the silky movement of a serpent.

O, would I ever
Be reborn?
With dilated pupils, o, breeze of pain
With white clouds, will you pass over my face?

Would you, one evening, leave me again
Like a translucent bone on the hot sands
And fretting on the sky’s pavement, oh, Mater,
Would you ever remember our love?

Centre for Romanian Studies