The ending has arrived without a warning.
You're happy now? I see you wear a ring.
I understand, and sever without mourning
The useless hope. You follow the same thing!
No, not a word. Don't tell me it's just form,
I understand full well the hidden sense.
I know, you have in life a different norm,
But I don't worship norms, there's no pretense.
I'll no more sing, will never more exult,
And neither will I cross your path again,
I do not blame you, it is not your fault,
I will say nothing, needless to explain.
Mistaken tough it was, that is for sure
It could have been amazing, it was nought.
And in my boredom, everlasting, pure
I still won't know if you could give a thought.
And still, and still, there was a touch or two
Enough to make me stagger on the way
The open heavens with an angel's hue
Threw light onto my evenings' dismay.
When Midas' fingers I have put to magic
Caress your tender being made of clay
It rang in me a watery, pelagic,
Sound of creation from the primal day.
I saw how, over eons, was ascending
Your golden statue, luminous and heavy
And how the centuries, quietly attending
In muted rows would kneel and pay your levy,
While at your pedestal, without a motion
They'd wait for you to open, full of grace,
Your holy hand, to kiss in pure devotion
Before they disappear without a trace.
Oh, if we were together but one hour,
We would have lived a golden dream, unbroken,
Like an eternal and resplendent flower,
Which can't be known, and can't be spoken.
Predestined came the ending to our tale,
And I don't know if you indeed will stare
By chance upon this letter - for I'll fail
To sway you to remain the way you were.
I shall not squash the dream, or speak in jest;
I shall not stain with words what I held dear.
I could have said: "you were like all the rest"...
But I refuse to sully and to sneer.
For even though you'd swim in ugly mire,
You shall remain as water-lily's snow
Which mirrored in a lake of drunk desire,
Reflects you pure from memory aglow.
Forever I'll believe, I have no doubt -
Without a word my love will press along,
Meanwhile the world will never figure out
Why other women never hear my song.
For there, under the magic rays of yore,
Cleansed in the quiet waters of my dream,
Adored you'll linger, in the sky to soar,
An evening star so kind and so serene.
And should this life be rough and cruel, you see,
When people will throw mud and stones at you,
Be sure to run into a dream to me,
The two of us in harmony anew.
My tears will wash away your every stain,
Unwritten verses will caress you sweet.
And in their swaying rhythm they'll refrain
Your early dream of happiness replete.
And if it happens (as I feel of late)
For me to part, and sad goodbye to wave,
If should hear your calling at the gate,
I'll reach to you anew from flinty grave.
But if I cannot hope to cross again,
If those dark borders be forever sealed,
I'd writhe forever in that wintry reign,
And cry into the gloom, and never yield.
(from the volume Testament - 400 de ani de poezie românească - 400 Years of Romanian Poetry - Daniel Ionita - editor and principal translator, assisted by Daniel Reynaud, Adriana Paul and Eva Foster - Minerva Publishing- 2019)
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