Sunday, December 27, 2009

Lost In Translation





MICHELLE BROOKS

(STATELE UNITE)


THE LAST DAYS OF OUR POMPEII

There was hope that things could be, if not

altered, perhaps the course not quite so

relentless, slow death in the end not

being quite slow enough. Our last night

together we watched Willie Nelson sing

at Billy Bob’s, and a woman stopped

with a basket of roses, a final gesture

of sweetness. I took them home where

they died quickly, so red they looked

black, dried blood clots, unchanging

in their message -- you can keep me, but

I will harden, I will dry up, I will become

something else, their only obligation in being

what they are, what they have ceased to be.



ULTIMELE ZILE

ALE POMPEIULUI NOSTRU
Aveam speranţa că lucrurile ar putea fi, dacă nu

transformate, măcar nu chiar atât de implacabile

pe parcurs, la sfârşit moartea lentă nefiind

totuşi destul de lentă. În ultima noastră noapte

împreună l-am văzut pe Willie Nelson cântând

la Billy Bob’s şi o femeie s-a oprit

cu un coş de trandafiri, un ultim gest

de tandreţe. I-am luat acasă, unde

au murit în curând, atât de roşii încât păreau

negri, cheaguri uscate de sânge, neschimbători

ca povestea lor – poţi să mă păstrezi, dar

mă voi întări, mă voi ofili, mă voi transforma

în altcineva, având singura datorie de-a fi

ceea ce sunt, ceea ce au încetat să mai fie.


Hi guys! Here's one of my poems in Romanian in a new wonderful journal! I'll be back with you later today, but until then, enjoy.

5 comments:

the walking man said...

I am feeling more as a rose cut and set in the vase to wither then the counter to dry than I am the gesture that took them and presented them. Yet in the case of being I am still what I have become.


I love it when you give poetry that connects to me in ways that may never have been seen by you.

chris said...

You are going bilingual. Congrats on the publishing.

Anonymous said...

Yay!

Tin Cup

Charles Gramlich said...

Great poem! Love the dried blood clot image. That's very neat about the translation. I'm supposed to have some haiku translated at some point. Haven't heard any more about it in a while.

Lana Gramlich said...

Very apt & powerful poem. Thanks for sharing. So well done!