Melancholy [Melancolie]
It was as if a gate was opened in the clouds
Through which the dead night's queen emerged in thin, white shrouds.
Oh, sleep in peace among the torches shining bright,
Rest in your bluish tomb and bathe in silver light,
The starry sky above, your monument will be,
Majestic queen of night that anyone can see!
The world beneath is large, but rime is all around,
Resembling a thin veil that covers all the ground;
The air is full of sparks, the buildings gnawed by time
Gleam like a bunch of ruins that have been smeared with lime.
The isolated graveyard is covered with thick moss,
A greyish owl is resting on a lopsided cross,
The wooden plank is sounding, the bell tower is creaking,
The cunning evil demon somewhere around is sneaking,
But when his wing is touching the shining copper bell
From it a sound emerges, like a pathetic spell.
The church now feels the cold
Deserted are its ruins, and very sad and old
And through the broken windows and through the open door
The wind is blowing harshly and you can hear its roar –
Inside the nave, on pillars, iconostasis, walls,
Faded conturs are present and a big shadow crawls;
The priest is a small cricket, who spins an obscure thought,
While cantor is the mildew, who the decay has brought.
................................................................................
The faith paints in the church small icons, full of glory,
And in my soul it slips its most amazing story,
But from the waves of life and from the stormy days
Only outlines remain and shadows and thick haze.
In vain I search my world within my weary brain,
Because a sad, hoarse cricket is singing in the rain;
On my deserted heart in vain my hand I keep,
It's beating like a fungus in coffins buried deep.
And when I think about my life, it seems to flow
Like an account retold by someone I don't know,
As if it weren't mine, as if I lost a part,
So, who's the guy who tells my story now by heart?
I lend my ear to him and laugh of what he said,
As if it were a fiction... as if I were long dead.
poem by Mihai Eminescu, translated by Octavian Cocoş
Added by anonym
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