A FAIRLY SAD TALE / O POVESTE DESTUL DE TRISTA

POSTED IN classic poetry, translated English-Romanian August 17, 2020

 

 

 

 

A FAIRLY SAD TALE / O POVESTE DESTUL DE TRISTA

I think that I shall never know
Why I am thus, and I am so.
Around me, other girls inspire
In men the rush and roar of fire,
The sweet transparency of glass,
The tenderness of April grass,
The durability of granite;
But me- I don’t know how to plan it.
The lads I’ve met in Cupid’s deadlock
Were- shall we say?- born out of wedlock.
They broke my heart, they stilled my song,
And said they had to run along,
Explaining, so to sop my tears,
First came their parents or careers.
But ever does experience
Deny me wisdom, calm, and sense!
Though she’s a fool who seeks to capture
The twenty-first fine, careless rapture,
I must go on, till ends my rope,
Who from my birth was cursed with hope.
A heart in half is chaste, archaic;
But mine resembles a mosaic-
The thing’s become ridiculous!
Why am I so? Why am I thus?
…………………………………………………..
O poveste destul de trista

Eu cred ca nu voi sti defel
De ce-s asa si nu altfel
In juru-mi fetele inspira
-n barbati freamat, foc ce mira,
al sticlei transparent gentil,
tandretea ierbii de April,
perenitate de granit
eu, insa, nu m-am planuit.
Flacaii intalniti prin barzi
erau, sa zicem, cam bastarzi.
Imi frangeau inima si cantul
S-apoi fugeau mancand pamantul
Spunand, ca sa-mi usuce fata,
ca-s prioritari parintii, viata.
Dar nu imi neaga experienta
nicicand calmul, inteligenta.
Desi-i naiva cea ce cata
Sa fie-o vesnic nonsalanta,
Tre’ sa-mi port funia pe distanta
Eu, blestemata cu speranta.
O inima-n jumate franta
e pura, casta, este sfanta
si are-o aura de-arhaic.
A mea arata cam mozaic.

Povestea mea e de belea:
De ce nu-s altfel si-s asa?
 

 

 
Maria Magdalena Biela