Cezar BALTAG
Night Both myself and the cricket In the murky ivy At the window of my room Possess a split consciousness : Both of us fail to sleep, Both of us seek the ecstasy to empower The moment and draw resurrection nearer Both of us fear the words Yet we are not afraid of death […]
Marin SORESCU
Layers I am digging into my stratum, The surface one, the latest, On the underlying layer A shadow is digging into the substratum. And so on and so forth, All the departed are digging, Feverishly seeking Deeper and deeper. The clacks and clanks of shovels Resound against their cheeks, From the other side Lively shovel […]
Grigore VIERU
The White-haired Child To Spiridon Vangheli Life has bestowed on him the most strenuous duty : staying a child forever. The man stuffed some motherfieds into his shoulder bag and embarked on his world journey to tell the children fairytales. He’d tell them the tale of the poplar tree, until the children can behold the […]
Nichita STÃNESCU
The Defamation of the Evil I forge the mystery more than I worship it. I make bricks for the house walls the word I utter is set on the table and served as food When my burial time comes they will notice a child in a deep slumber unwilling to rouse from his sleep. Only […]
Mircea IVĂNESCU
Evenfall Much too late did I start to look with my eyes at all beings, beings dwelling by my side, in front of me − much too late, (and I still have distinct remembrance of a friend of his recounting long ago how he burst out one night exclaiming, “Hey, look at you ! You’ve […]
Petre STOICA
eviscerate the chest of drawers It’s the hour of the grave decisions therefore my sweetheart throw off the small-eyed nacre buttons from the chest of drawers drop the dozen of lead soldiers into the mass grave they haven’t been running on my battlefields for quite a while drop them into the mass grave it’s the […]
Aurel RĂU
Next to the Great Empires We’ve been praying and toiling. We’ve been praying and toiling and battling. So we had no time for scheming. Our words, shot at our childhood, have been like punitive arrows. And our spears like miraculous birds. We’ve been battling and living on. Everlastingly next to the great empires. […]
Octavian PALER
The Game All I’ve got left is a conch shell and some pebbles, how can I weave them into a sea and a shore to lie on its sand beach and how can I persuade myself I’ve been on such a shore happily pursuing a bird that wouldn’t let me sleep peacefully ? A conch […]
A.E. BACONSKY
Self-portrait Throughout Time I’ve borne a resemblance to the forest, the windmill,the voiceless, black, unknown roadside crosses,to the horses’ shadows on the high Moldavian hills at nightI’ve also borne a resemblance to the faces of the strange godsburied in the sand by the sea. How much time has elapsed since then ?Many heavy rainfalls and […]
Lucian BLAGA
The Song of My Lifespring No way for streams to ever return − it’s not allowed − to their fountainheads, to their wellsprings − as vowed − under any disguise but that of a cloud. No way for pathways to ever return − it’s not allowed − to their trailheads, to their roots − as […]