Will You Cry a Lot or Smile?
I
do not repent
that I have also gathered mud in my soul -
but I wonder about you.
With claws of light
one day a morning will kill your dream
that my soul is as pure
as your thoughts want it to be,
as the heart of your love believes it to be.
Will you cry a lot or forgive?
Will you cry a lot or smile
from the rays of that morning,
when I tell you without a shadow of remorse:
'Don't you know
that it's only in lakes with mud that the bottom that
lilies grow?'
Lucian Blaga
from Poems of Light (1919)
Romanian poet Lucian Blaga (1895-1961) was "one of the greatest East European expressionists" according to Mircea Borcila, whose essay opens a recent volume of Blaga's collected poetry in English: Complete Poetical Works of Lucian Blaga, 1895-1961, translated into English by Brenda Walker, with Stelian Apostolescu, with an introduction by Keith Hitchins, published by the UNESCO/Center for Romanian Studies in 2001.
Borcila makes an interesting comment on translation from Romanian to English:
"Linguists have identified a unique feature common to English and Romanian: in both languages, the amount of 'borrowed' words in the vocabulary - approximately 80% - is higher than in other languages. As such, eminent scholars Valentin Kipsarly and Alf Lombard regard them as being 'the most hospitable in Europe.' The borrowed words in the case of English are drawn pre-dominantly from Latin which constitutes the core of Romanian" (7-8).
***
Vei plânge mult ori vei zâmbi?
Eu
nu mă căiesc,
c-am adunat în suflet şi noroi-
dar mă gândesc la tine.
Cu gheare de lumină
o dimineaţă-ţi va ucide-odată visul,
că sufletul mi-aşa curat,
cum gândul tău il vrea,
cum inima iubirii tale-l crede.
Vei plânge mult atunci ori vei ierta?
Vei plânge mult ori vei zâmbi
de razele acelei dimineţi,
în care eu ţi-oi zice fără umbră de căinţă:
"Nu ştii, ca numa-n lacuri cu noroi în fund cresc nuferi?"
Lucian Blaga
Poemele Luminii (1919)
