Nothing means anything now:
I am alone
— My mind a vacant space,
My heart of stone.
Nimic nu mai contează
Singur sunt
Memoria’m pierdut
Viaţa să-nfrunt.
Nothing means anything now:
I am alone
— My mind a vacant space,
My heart of stone.
Nimic nu mai contează
Singur sunt
Memoria’m pierdut
Viaţa să-nfrunt.
Tags:"Centre for Romanian Studies - London"·"Constantin Roman"·"English into Romanian"·"George Orwell"·"Minsitry of Labour·C.H. Sisson·Charles Hubert SISSON·editor·England·english language·London·poetry·poezie·traducator·translation·translator·“Finale”·“Final”
“Should one of us remember,
And one of us forget,
I promise you what I will do—
And I’m content to wait for you,
And not be sure as yet.”
De ne vom aminti cândva,
Căci unul dintre noi, poate-ar uita,
Eu o să-ţi spun ce-aşi face:
Aşi fi felice să te-aştept,
Dar încă nu o pot s-o cred.
Tags:"Centre for Romanian Studies - London"·"Christina Rossetti"·"Constantin Roman"·"English to Romanian"·19th century English literature·editor·English·Literature·London·Londra·poet·poetry·poezie·traducere·translation·“EL şi EA”·“HE and SHE”
La speranza di pure rivederti
m’abbandonava;
e mi chiesi se questo che mi chiude
ogni senso di te, schermo d’immagini,
ha i segni della morte o dal passato
è in esso, ma distorto e fatto labile,
un tuo barbaglio:
(a Modena, tra i portici,
un servo gallonato trascinava
due sciacalli al guinzaglio).
Tags:"Centre for Romanian Studies - London"·"Nobel prize"·"Poetry in Translation"·editor·Eugenio Montale·Italian into Romanian·Italy·La speranza di pure rivederti·Modena·passato·poet·sciacalli al guinzaglio·translation
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!
Tags:"Centre for Romanian Studies - London"·"Constantin Roman"·"Poetry in Translation"·editor·English·German·romanian·translation·translator·“Balada vârstei”·“Ballad of the Ages”
The hope I dreamed of was a dream,
Was but a dream; and now I wake,
Exceeding comfortless, and worn, and old,
For a dream’s sake.
I hang my harp upon a tree,
A weeping willow in a lake;
I hang my silent harp there, wrung and snapt
For a dream’s sake.
Lie still, lie still, my breaking heart;
My silent heart, lie still and break:
Life, and the world, and [mine] own self, are changed
For a dream’s sake.
Tags:"Centre for Romanian Studies - London"·"Christina Rossetti"·"Constantin Roman"·"Speranţa ce-am visat"·"The hope I dreamed of was a dream"·editor·English Romanian·poem·poetry·poezie·traducere·translation·translator
you, my soul
take a look at other souls
to get to know yourself
men of deep sadness
suflete,
priviţi în alte suflete
să vă cunoasteţi
oameni de profundă tristeţe
Tags:"Centre for Romanian Studies - London"·"Constantin Roman"·"Poetry in Translation"·Andrei - Tiberiu MĂJERI·English·poem·Romania·soul·Suflet·translation·Transylvania
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…
Tags:"Centre for Romanian Studies - London"·"Constantin Roman"·"Corbii"·"Mihai Codreanu"·"The Ravens"·editor·Iasi·lawyer·London·Moldavia·poet·romanian·sonet·sonnet·traducere·translation
“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.”
Tags:"Centre for Romanian Studies - London"·"Constantin Roman"·"Eastern Europe"·"Green Dream"·"History of Romanian Literature"·"Poetry in Translation"·"Vis vegetal"·Basarabia·Bessarabia·editor·English·Eusebiu Camilar·Interbellum·Magda Isanos·Moldova·poetess·poetry·poezie·Romania·romanian·traducere·translation·Women poets
Michelangelo BUONARROTI (1475-1564)
XLVII
Când dragostea-i mereu înflăcărată,
Mai mult decât credeam, în tinereţe,
Regret adânc vapaia-ntârziată,
Ce mă încearcă, greu, la bătrâneţe.
Căci cerul este crud, când, sub văpaie,
Îi cere inimii, ce-abea că mai rezistă,
Ca bătrâneţea să îmi poarte crucea,
Iubind o fiinţă, cu-o privire tristă.
Dar poate-atunci când soarele apune,
Iar viaţia-i la sfârşit, putea-voi spune,
Că-n noapte, voi trăi o umbră vie.
Căci, în amurgul vieţii, dorul ştie
Cum focul mă va pune la-ncercare:
Iubite, fă din noapte-o sărbătoare!
Rendered in Romanian by Constantin ROMAN
© 2014 Copyright Constantin ROMAN, London
Tags:"Centre for Romanian Studies - London"·"Constantin Roman"·"Poetry in Translation"·editor·Italia·Italy·Michelangelo Buonarotti·poet·Romanian language·Sculptor·Sonnet nr. 49.·Sonnets·Toscana·traducere·translation·Tuscany
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!
Tags:"Alexandru Vlahuta"·"Centre for Romanian Studies - London"·"Constantin Roman"·Bereft Country·editor·English·Literature·London·poem·poet·poezie·romanian·Ţară de pripas·traducere·translation