While Mihai Eminescu (1850- 1889) is often described as the essence of the Romanian soul, the modern literary language in Romania is also much indebted to him. His work encompassed every genre of poetry (love, philosophical, cosmological, mythological, historical, socio-satiric, etc.) as well as prose and journalism. Eminescu is considered Europe’s last great romantic not in the least because he gave voice of such unmistakable music to the sadness of love.
His legacy, however, transcends the confines of Romanticism, the literary and philosophical Western traditions, the Far East influences, and even the obvious imprint of the Romanian folklore. Blessed with the touch of genius, his synthesis is a personal world of meaning about the life of Man and of the Cosmos in archetypal images of universal worth.
Despite his national stature and unquestionable universal relevance, Mihai Eminescu (“Year 2000 UNESCO Poet-of-the-Year”) is little known to the American readership at large. Unconvincing translations are only partly to blame because access to good renditions is limited.
The internet, however, has brought the library right on your desktop. The links on this site will take you to the various events that have contributed to the ever-growing awareness of a poet-for-all-seasons, no longer trapped on the constraints of a folkloric language. See also: Luceafarul - Website dedicated to Eminescu - comparing translations by A. G. Sahlean & with those of other translators.
Special tribute to Eminescu by the Global Arts founders
Mihai Eminescu's famous Ode-In Ancient Meter, as translated into English by A. G. Sahlean, inspired William C. Cross to write his own tribute to the poet. His poem mirrors the existential problems of the Romanian original as seen through the eyes of an American's experience. It points to the eternal quest of Man for self-awareness, perennial across generations and cultures. Below you will find, in order, Eminescu's 'Oda - In Metru Antic', Sahlean's English rendition, Cross's 'Variations on Eminescu's Ode' and its Romanian translation by Adrian & Roxana Sahlean.
This Eminescu tribute was published in the July 2006 issue of the prestigious Romanian literary magazine 'Convorbiri Literare'.
Odă (în metru antic)
Mihai Eminescu
Nu credeam să-nvăt a muri vrodată;
Pururi tînăr, înfăsurat în manta-mi,
Ochii mei năltam visători la steaua
Singurătătii.
Cînd deodată tu răsărisi în cale-mi,
Suferintă tu, dureros de dulce...
Pîn-în fund băui voluptatea mortii
Ne’ndurătoare.
Jalnic ard de viu chinuit ca Nessus.
Ori ca Hercul înveninat de haina-i;
Focul meu a-l stinge nu pot cu toate
Apele mării.
De-al meu propriu vis, mistuit mă vaiet,
Pe-al meu propriu rug, mă topesc în flăcări...
Pot să mai re’nviu luminos din el ca
Pasărea Phoenix?
Piară-mi ochii turburători din cale,
Vino iar în sîn, nepăsare tristă;
Ca să pot muri linistit, pe mine
Mie redă-mă!
1883
Ode (In Ancient Meter)
English translation © by Adrian G. Sahlean
I never thought I would learn how to die, ever.
Forever young, cloaked in my mantle,
My eyes, dreamful, were affixed to the star
Of solitude.
All of a sudden you rose across my way –
You, my suffering, so painful and sweet;
To its full I drank your voluptuous,
Merciless death.
Wretched I burn alive tortured like Nessus,
Or like Hercules by his harness poisoned –
My fire can’t be quenched by all the sweeping
Waves of the seas.
Woe betide, by my own dream devoured…
Consumed by flames, I wail on a pyre, my own;
Can I ever rise anew, luminous
Like the Phoenix?
Oh, troubled eyes, from my path now vanish,
Return to my bosom, sad indifference;
So I can die in peace, my own old self
To me redeem!
2000
Variations on Eminescu's Ode
William C. Cross
Now it is my turn for a lesson in dying –
I who never gave it a second thought;
'Don’t trust anyone over 30' on my T-shirt,
eternal in jeans and sandals, my eyes
never fixed on one thing for long,
companions came and friendships went,
lovers lost in the last embrace.
Then the handshake with pain,
suffering’s garrote grip,
embracing the word 'vulnerable'
from the inside out,
sweetness of loss and voluptuous collapse –
I breathed in lightness-of-being one moment,
expired the next.
Like some immortal out of Mt. Olympus
spread-eagled on a boulder
or burning alive forever,
I carried depths of oceans in my eyes,
relentless tides and shifting shores,
winds that rain for days and mist in early morning – and still I burn.
Clinging to eternal longing,
devoured by the spinner of the globe,
every waking moment a pyre of regret
for things I would do again
and betrayal beyond belief,
flames licking me goodbye –
I see no good in this embrace,
no Phoenix rising anywhere,
nothing but that blinding light.
Now if these failed eyes could just forget,
sane indifference once more greet the sun –
I could die at peace,
my ornery self back home at last.
2005
Variațiuni pe Oda lui Eminescu
Versiune română © Adrian G. & Roxana Sahlean
E rîndul meu să-nvăt lectia mortii
eu, care nu i-am dat vreodată mare atentie;
de-a pururi în jeans si sandale, pe T-shirt imprimat
‘Nu te-ncrede în cei de peste 30 de ani’, ochii mei
nicicînd pironiti mult timp la ceva,
astfel s-au perindat amici, s-au dus prietenii,
si au pierit iubite la ultima îmbrătisare.
Am dat apoi mîna cu durerea,
garota strîns-a suferintei,
îmbrătisînd cuvîntul ‘vulnerabil’
din lăuntrul său,
dulceata pierderii si prăbusirea voluptuoasă –
am tras adînc în piept extazul vietii
sfîrsindu-mă în clipa următoare.
Precum nemuritorul din muntele Olimp
răstignit pe-o stancă
sau arzînd de viu pe veci,
am purtat în ochi adîncuri de ocean,
nelinistite valuri si tărmuri miscătoare,
vînturi ce plouă zile-ntregi si ceata zorilor – si încă ard.
Agătat de-un dor fără sfîrsit,
înghitit de timpul rotitor,
orice clipă trează e-un rug de regrete
pentru tot ce as lua de la capăt
si pentru trădări de neînchipuit,
limbile flăcărilor mă biciuie de bun rămas –
nu văd ce rost are îmbrătisarea lor,
nici pasarea Phoenix nu văd înăltîndu-se,
nimic,decît lumină orbitoare.
De-ar mai putea uita gresiti-mi ochi,
cu sănătoasă nepăsare să-ntîmpin iarăsi soarele –
as muri împăcat, cu sinele meu cîrtitor
întors în sfîrsit acasă.
2005