POEME ROMÂNESTI ÎN LIMBI STRĂINE

Stefan Augustin DOINAS

 

The Sea

 

He was singing on the shore. The sea

wave perfidiously simpered more.

And she whispered, “I’m the sylphid,

capture me – and I’ll be thine !...”

“Ha ! Ha ! Ha !...”, the sea giggled.

So the girl jumped in the water.

Foaming with zest, the sea wave,

was on its treacherous quest.

Like a flower in the wind she’d float

on the crest of life-and-death boat.

Vainly was he seeking her :

ceaselessly her body would lose

its golden amber

into the blue-green silver bruise.

There she was – her naked breast

and rose kissed the nadir.

Yet, hands buried in sapphires witnessed

fishing was a mere fairytale,

as boundless as the sea.

Since time passed in brightness,

the day barely gave them a spur

to consume their embracement.

It was late. Under love’s bliss

he would arrest her with a kiss,

the sea wave mutely depressed,

trembling all around their nest.

Still where are the shores ? There’s none.

Only the azure high and low

would move to and fro

the troubled beauty on the frizzy sea,

years of smoke, eons of fire.

Like the dream axle of the world,

– in the flattering seafoam –,

they would spin on burning desire.

Everything around shattered and ended,

dismantled and then sank.

’Twas only the loving pair

entrapped in the last kiss lair.

“Capture me – and I’ll be thine !...”,

the livid water perfidiously whispered.

There she was captive ! But who’s the lord ?

Where was the sprightly sylphid ?

Where was the one seeking her ?

The bitter sea wave zestfully flickered

in black-violet-blue-greenish shades it rippled...

 

(English version: Gabriela PACHIA)