Violets [Toporaşi] - Magda Isanos

This year again the fairy Spring is here
and what it brings is surely commonplace,
yet we rejoice and sing with hearts sincere,
as if we feel its very first embrace.

I'm struggling with myself, but I set out,
and gently treading through the mud, I try
to see what flowers have begun to sprout
in that expansive, empty park nearby.

I haven’t had this feeling for so long,
to be alive and happy and serene;
beneath my feet, the earth is wet and strong,
and from the sky, the sun will turn it green.

The bare trees are enchanting to the eye –
I feel like hugging them when I get near
(so many times in springtime I've strolled by
and haven't noticed that they were all here).

The sky is blue, but vague, I must admit,
(like dresses whose bright colors fade in time),
when I tilt back my head and gaze at it,
I find it to be wondrous and sublime.

And near an oak are violets all around,
so frail and blue and growing in a ring –
they look like crumbs spread gently on the ground,
among the trees, by this enchanting spring.

My heart is pounding like a drum when I
bend down to pick a bunch, because I'm sure
that once they're broken they will surely die,
for in a glass no flowers can endure.

I go back home at peace and cross the lands
with weary steps, yet feeling in control,
it's true that I return with empty hands,
but still I carry violets in my soul.

Added by: Octavian

Translator: Octavian Cocoş
Language: English

see more poems written by: Magda Isanos