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  • Sărbători
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Sărbători

Ioana Ieronim

Iarna şi primăvara, de sărbători circulau mici pachete în Transilvania; o pereche de şosete împletite, mănuşi din resturi de lână, un săculeţ de molton înflorat, pentru apucatul tigăilor fierbinţi de pe sobă
vreun şerveţel brodat în cruciuliţe albastre de o şcolăriţă, un fular, o căciulă, un şal tivit cu găurele – şi chiar o cutie de fursecuri (care, se ştie, sunt bune cu cât mai aşteaptă) – ori vreo plăcintă, dacă drumul era mai aproape
: cu dragoste şi urări fericite pentru Tante Grete, pentru Michel Onkel, pentru bunii prieteni Hans şi Dietlinde, pentru părinţi şi bunici şi nepoţi

Au fost lucrate seri de-a rândul, ascultând, printre continente de zgomot, Deutsche Welle, ori plăci serafice de patefon ori pagini deosebite peste care dădea, în lecturile sale reluate după război, domnul casei cu ochelarii pe nas – scăldat în lumina brună caldă şi veche a lămpii de birou


Ioana Ieronim

from The Triumph of the Water Witch (Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Bloodaxe, 2000)

translated by Adam J. Sorkin & Ioana Ieronim

Reproduced by kind permission of the poet, translator and publishers.

Tags:

clothes craft everyday life families hobbies post and mail Romanian translation work

Translations of this Poem

Holidays

In winter and spring, at holiday time, neat little packages circulated
throughout Transylvania; a pair of hand-knitted socks, multi-
colour gloves made of leftover yarn, a pot-holder of flowered
cloth,
a napkin embroidered with a dainty blue cross by a schoolgirl, a
muffler, a fur cap, a lace shawl, – or perhaps a box filled with
biscuits (which, it’s well known, will be much better if you
wait to eat them later) – or some pie, if the distance was fairly
short
: with love and best wishes for Aunt Greta, for Uncle Michael, for
our good friends Hans and Dietlinde, for parents, grandparents,
nieces and nephews.

People worked on them for evenings on end while they listened to
the crackling shortwave continents of Deutsche Welle, or
angelic shellac gramophone records, or exquisite pages revisited
once more, from his readings back before the war, by the man
of the house with his spectacles propped on the bridge of his
nose – bathed in the old, warm brown light of his desk lamp.

Source: from The Triumph of the Water Witch (Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Bloodaxe, 2000), translated by Adam J. Sorkin & Ioana Ieronim. Reproduced by kind permission of the translators.

About this poem

This poem, representing Romania, is part of The Written World – our collaboration with BBC radio to broadcast a poem from every single nation competing in London 2012.

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