POEME ROMÂNESTI ÎN LIMBI STRĂINE
Ion MINULESCU
Tuneless Romanza
To reach you, I said to my horse,
“Speed up !...
Spread your wings like in fairytales
And rise above the clouds...
Ever higher,
Ever farther –
Like the string of cranes
Hovering a long way off !...
Go, my horse, speed up !...”
To reach you, I said to the wind,
“Give me your hand
And drift me wherever you might steal
To the blood-stained skyline where the sun would conceal...
To reach you with the soonest,
Come on, wind, give me your hand !...”
To reach you, I said to death,
“Go ahead of me
And ruthlessly reap the living kind
And all standing in my way...
Level the mountains in the distance,
Let the valley brim with corpses
Between me and her –
Come on !... Come on, death, go ahead !...”
To reach you,
The horse,
The wind,
And death
Wearied –
They played as I pleased;
Yet...
From the curtain folds, your green eyes no longer show,
The guitar strings are broken
And... my romanza has come to an end !
English version by Gabriela PACHIA