Prayer – by Octavian Goga, translated by Daniel Ionita

Aceste poezii traduse in limba engleza fac parte din volumul „Testament – Anthology of Romanian Verse – Bilingual Edition” (Daniel Ionita, Minerva 2012). Dorim ca prin aceste articole sa promovam frumoasa poezia romaneasca pentru cititorii de limba engleza. Puteti sa dati „Share” acestor articole catre prietenii dvs. de limba engleza. Gasiti mai multe informatii la sfarsitul acestui articol. Va multumim! Daniel Ionita & Intercer

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Prayer (Octavian Goga – translation D.Ionita)

“A wayward stray, with eyes a-mist,
My body wasted on this way,
I helplessly now fall, my master
And ‘fore your radiance I now lay.
My path is full of dark abysses
And darkness my horizon’s holding,
I, on my knees, for you am seeking,
My Father, pray, my trail be moulding!

Within my chest rocked by desires,
I feel temptations how they’re linking,
They wish to turn to murky waters
The spring from which my soul is drinking.
From worldly waves tear me asunder,
And may your counsel wisely sway;
On those I left behind forever,
Lord, make my gaze devoted stay.

Un-riddle for my mind the mystery,
The charms from nature’s law above,
And in my arm forever settle
The strength of hate, the strength of love.
Grant me the song, grant me the light
Chime of a soul in love forever,
Grant summer sunrays in abundance
And my spent eyelids kindly lever.

Drive now away my deepest passions
Forever break their swaying power
And for the agony of others
Teach me to feel and weep each hour.
Not to my need forever prey,
Like some cruel fate, deceitful, evil,
But the dark sadness of the world,
May in my tears find its retrieval.

Grant me the bitterness and toil
Of many longings without cure,
Grant me a hurricane that’s howling,
Where groans of slavery endure.
Since long ago have the downtrodden
Sighed with the world’s weight on their shoulder…
Their frightening pain, my Lord I’m begging,
Drop in my heart, make me its holder.

Sow in my soul the wildest tempest,
To feel how in its core it struggles.
Taste bitterness that’s overflowing,
And over quivering strings now juggles.
Let now beneath this burning vault
The lightning-blue enamel gong,
Release its chiming voice of bronze,
And let our anguish sing its song.”

(from Testament – Anthology of Romanian Verse, bilingual edition English/Romanian, edited and translated by Daniel Ionita, Minerva – 2012)