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Entries Tagged as 'romanian'

Poetry in Translation (CCCXII): T. S. ELIOTT (1888-1965), U.S.A. / ENGLAND – “Lune de miel”, “Luna de miere”

January 3rd, 2015 · Comments Off on Poetry in Translation (CCCXII): T. S. ELIOTT (1888-1965), U.S.A. / ENGLAND – “Lune de miel”, “Luna de miere” · Books, Diaspora, Famous People, International Media, PEOPLE, Poetry, quotations, Translations

Ils vont prendre le train de huit heures
Prolonger leurs misères de Padoue à Milan
Ou se trouvent le Cène, et un restaurant pas cher.

Apoi vor prinde trenul, la opt şi jumătate,
Târându-şi, greu, suflarea, din Sud înspre Milano,
La Cina cea de Taină şi un meniu mai ieftin.

Poetry in Translation (CCCX): Attila ILHAN (1925-2005), TURKEY: “Illicit love”, “Iubire ilicită”

January 2nd, 2015 · Comments Off on Poetry in Translation (CCCX): Attila ILHAN (1925-2005), TURKEY: “Illicit love”, “Iubire ilicită” · Famous People, PEOPLE, Poetry, POLITICAL DETENTION / DISSENT, quotations, Translations

come through my other door you cannot open this
come with your former eyes come at the time to kill
and be vigilant lest someone should follow you

vino prin uşa cealaltă, nu vei putea deschide uşa asta
vino cu ceilalţi ochi vino când vei avea timp destul
şi fii atent ca nu cumva să te urmărească cineva

Poetry in Translation (CCCIV): Peter LEWIS, GERMANY & ENGLAND: “Ballad of the Ages”, “Balada vârstei”

October 26th, 2014 · Comments Off on Poetry in Translation (CCCIV): Peter LEWIS, GERMANY & ENGLAND: “Ballad of the Ages”, “Balada vârstei” · Diaspora, International Media, Poetry, quotations, Translations

Ballad of the Ages
Wilhelm BUSCH, Theodore FONTANE & Eugen ROTH

When you’re a kid, your life’s a breeze
A time to do just as you please
But being small you’re much too keen
To grow into a sulky teen.

At eighteen, though, you blithely say
By twenty I’ll be tired and grey
But when you duly reach that stage
Why, thirty seems a ripe old age.

And in your fourties what you fear
Is tour approaching fiftieth year
But when it comes, lo and behold…
You really don’t feel all that old!

Poetry in Translation, (CCC): ANONYMOUS, ROMANIA: “Christmas Carol”

September 15th, 2014 · Comments Off on Poetry in Translation, (CCC): ANONYMOUS, ROMANIA: “Christmas Carol” · Diaspora, PEOPLE, Poetry, quotations, Translations

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, (CCXCIV), Constantin ROMAN, ENGLAND: “Sermon”, “Predică”

September 5th, 2014 · Comments Off on Poetry in Translation, (CCXCIV), Constantin ROMAN, ENGLAND: “Sermon”, “Predică” · Diaspora, PEOPLE, Poetry, quotations, Translations

Predică
C. ROMAN (Londra)

Iarăşi şi iarăşi
Luaţi aminte
Că veţi afla
Atâta
Desfătare
în
Dăruire
Cât veţi găsi
în
Primire.

Remember,
forever and ever,
there is, always,
as much
Pleasure
in
Giving,
as there is
in
Receiving!

Poetry in Translation, (CCXCIII), Mihai CODREANU (1875, Iaşi -1957, Iaşi), ROMANIA: “Corbii”, “The Ravens”

September 2nd, 2014 · Comments Off on Poetry in Translation, (CCXCIII), Mihai CODREANU (1875, Iaşi -1957, Iaşi), ROMANIA: “Corbii”, “The Ravens” · PEOPLE, Poetry, quotations, Translations

The sky is darkened and the stars are blinded
As whirlwinds cause my body to be blighted…
With greater force I’m carried by the storm…

As ravens guessing that I am forlorn,
They dart straight to my heart, which is half-dead,
To quench their beastly thirst, of dragon’s head.

Rendered in English by Constantin ROMAN,
© 2014 Copyright Constantin ROMAN, London
Nu văd în zări nici urma unei stele;
Doar viscolul din gândurile mele
Tot mai pornit prin gerul lui mă poartă…

… Iar corbii, presimţindu-şi trista pradă,
Spre inima-mi pe jumătate moartă
Îşi năpustesc sălbatica grămadă…

Poetry in Translation, (CCXCI), Simin BEHBAHANI (1927-2014), IRAN: “My Country, I Will Build You Again”, “Țara mea, te voi reclădi”

August 29th, 2014 · Comments Off on Poetry in Translation, (CCXCI), Simin BEHBAHANI (1927-2014), IRAN: “My Country, I Will Build You Again”, “Țara mea, te voi reclădi” · PEOPLE, Poetry, quotations, Translations

There still burns a fire in my breast
to keep undiminished the warmth of kinship
I feel for my people.
Once more you will grant me strength,
though my poems have settled in blood.
Once more I will build you with my life,
though it be beyond my means.
* * * * *
O flacără mai arde încă în pieptul meu
ca să păstreze neștirbită căldura de rudenie
ce o simt pentru oamenii mei.
Imi vei reda, din nou, puterea,
deși versurile mele au pătruns în sânge.
Din nou te voi reclădi cu viața mea,
deși va fi peste puterile mele.

Poetry in Translation, (CCXC), Magda ISANOS (1916 – 1944), ROMANIA/MOLDOVA: “Green Dream”, “Vis vegetal”

May 31st, 2014 · No Comments · International Media, PEOPLE, Poetry, quotations, Translations

“Vreau, suflete, să mă dezbar de tine
şi să trăiesc ca pomii de pe vale,
cu flori în locul gândurilor tale,
o viaţă fără rău şi fără bine.”

“Dear Soul, I’d gladly do without your swings of mood,
To live among the trees, down in the valley
And smell the bloom, rather than hear your parley –
A life unsullied by the Bad, or Good.”

Five Book Reviews: Memoirs of Adrian Marino, Gheorghe Rafael-Stefanescu, Boris Johnson, George Orwell and Joseph Stalin

May 25th, 2014 · No Comments · Books, History, International Media, OPINION, PEOPLE, quotations, Reviews

This is the most meaningful metamorphosis in Orwell’s life, during which time he realizes the underlying workings of Communism. Such ideology he ditches to refute it completely in his future best sellers: “1984” and “The Animal Farm”. We find Orwell, as an intelligent man, flirting with the left-wing dictatorship (and the Civil War) only to reject it without a right of appeal. As an observer, living his life’s experience at first hand, this is a compelling experience
It is precisely the stuff for which George Orwell’s works were completely banned in Eastern Europe, to the last days of Communism.

Poetry in Translation, (CCLXXXVIII) Alexandru VLAHUȚĂ (1858-1919), ROMANIA: “Bereft Country”, “Ţară de pripas” –

May 6th, 2014 · No Comments · PEOPLE, Poetry, quotations, Translations

In one decade all those arse lickers
Reached to the heights that ever were:
Too many of the baseless drifters
Each one is now millionaire.

Come join the spoils, you foreign dread,
To pluck out all that might be left!
What can one do? What can be said?
As our country is bereft!

Centre for Romanian Studies