We Should Have Been

by Ana Blandiana

We should have been born old,

And come wise,
Able to pick our fate in the world,
Knowing our way since the primary crossroad,
Be irresponsible only in our wish to walk.
Then become younger (by walking),
Mature and strong at the gate of creation,
Passing it through and in love adolescents,
Be children at birth of our sons.
They will be then older than us, anyways,
Would teach us to talk, would rock us to sleep,
We'll disappear more and more, become small,
Like the pearl of a grape, like a pea, like a wheat seed.

The Soul

by Ana Blandiana

The soul is something in us
That can not exist on the outside.
How many times it happened to me
To discover
Naked souls in the grass, agonizing.
Had take them with care in my palm
But never
Could find anybody in time
To receive them in self,
Was feeling the cup of my palm, empty
And a mist, untouched by leaves, passing
Doubtful through my body.
The soul is hiding in us
From God?

Star Brought By Wind

by Ana Blandiana

From the begining you've been brought by wind
Like a seed.
I've even been jocking. "Who ever saw
A star brought by wind?"
Only later,
When you stood on my forehead
And started germinating
I realized that you are a seed.
Greedy, stuck wildly in my brain,
With coarse rays figuring roots,
You're a seed. Too bad
Cause the plant which,
Like light from light, you are growing
Cannot be seen
Until after i'm darkened.

Song Of A Young Miner

Otilia Valeria Coman

Today i floated, lover, on greater bluish waters,
So you can squeeze the shirt that moulded on my spine,
And on the waters i have been thinking of our hearts,
But you've been calling - can turn me any time!
And then, i came back from the waters,
And here is my proof - a handful of shells.

Today i roamed, my lover, through forests deep and seas,
The hidden paths were tearing the clothes i had on me.
And in the big woods i have been thinking of our eyes,
But you've been calling - your call went right through me;
And then, i came back from the big woods,
And here is my proof - a handful of leaves.

Today i lost me, lover, through big layers of time
From my face wipe me, lover, the dark and my years too,
It almost seemed i walked millennia with you,
But you've been calling - your voice came faint to me
And i got scared i won't be back in time,
And started pushing forward the piles big of time
Towards the future - and here i am at you.

Love Poem

by Ana Blandiana

we each carry only one love in us
but mine is for you and yours... for another.
and fire consumes both of us
but i burn for you and you... for another
i wait for a word, you wait for a word
but me from you and you... from another.
i see in your sleep your face ravishing
but you in your dream still see the other...
and what still remains when destiny knows just
to part us?
don't you have pity? we just live to love, although you another
but i still... you!

Do You Remember The Beach?

by Ana Blandiana

Do you remember the beach
Covered with bitter shivers
On which
We couldn't walk barefoot?
The way you were looking at the sea
Pretending listening me?
Do you remember
The hysterical gulls
Wheeling in the ringing
Of the unseen bells of a church
Celebrations with fish,
The way in which
You were furthering running
Towards the sea
And yelling you needed
The distance
So you just can see me
The snowing
Was dimming
Mixed with birds in the water
With almost joyful despair
Was watching
The tracks of your feet in the sea
And the sea
Was closing like an eyelid
Over the eye in which i was waiting.