Gone are the years, long clouds across the plain
And never will I witness them return,
They charmed me then, but I no longer yearn
For tales and doina*, riddles all in vain,
Where childhood thoughts would joyfully abide
Barely discerned, now full of deep discerning –
For your cool shadows, I’m no longer burning,
Oh, time of mystery, at the even tide!
To wrest some sound from life forever passed,
To try, my soul, for you again to quiver
In vain my hand across the strings is skimming;
The gleam of youth, away, forever cast,
Spent, the sweet murmur that would once deliver,
While now, time grows behind me... I am dimming!
* Doina – a Romanian musical style, found in peasant music, often melancholy,
typically not constrained by a particular rhythm, and often varied according to the
interpreter’s mood and imagination.
(from the volume Testament - 400 de ani de poezie românească - 400 Years of Romanian Poetry - Daniel Ionita - editor and principal translator, assisted by Daniel Reynaud, Adriana Paul and Eva Foster - Minerva Publishing- 2019)
Translator: Daniel Ioniță
see more poems written by: Mihai Eminescu
