TRANSLATION CAFÉ, Nr. 19/November 15, 2007 |Translations from: Elaine Feinstein: Poems for Arnold, Stuff, by Florentina Rahira Tinte

Publicat deIoana Ioana

Stuff

Here we came in hot July, with the treasures
of a whole life together shambled in boxes
to be unwrapped and set out in new places:
the ebon carving of Rama’s wife, Sita,
each hair precisely cut, the puppets
from Prague, heavy art deco goblets,
a Sung fan discovered in South East Asia,
a cherry-wood flute player. You were

always eager to explore, and equally pleased
to investigate auction rooms or an Oxfam shop.
In a hardware store, you discovered elegance in
a simple tool for shaving slivers of cheese.
Even caches of paper clips and staplers
hold your presence, and the screws,
and Aruldite stored under the stairs

you often used to mend the backs of chairs.
Not to speak of the imac, in which your spirit
still continues: nets of thought intensely lived.
And most of all , in walnut drawers beneath
the table by our bed where once you kept
sleeping pills and indigestion tablets :
your hearing aid, your spectacles, your teeth.    
Maruntisuri

Iata cum am sosit in luna lui cuptor, cu toate bogatiile
de-o viata impreuna tarate prin cutii
ce le despachetam si le tot mutam locul:
statueta de abanos a Sitei, sotia lui Rama,
fiecare suvita taiata cu precizie, papusile
din Praga, pocale masive in stil art deco,
un evantai Sung descoperit prin Asia de Sud Est,
un cantaret la flaut din lemn de cires. Tu erai

mereu nerabdator sa explorezi, si la fel de incantat
sa cercetezi sali de licitatie sau vreun magazin Oxfam.
Intr-o feronerie, ai descoperit eleganta intr-o
simpla unealta de ras branza.
Chiar cutii de agrafe si de capse
iti sustin prezenta, si suruburile,
si adezivul depozitat sub scara

cu care adeseori reparai spatarele scaunelor.
De computer nici nu mai vorbesc, in el
spiritul tau dainuie: retele de ganduri traite intens.
Si mai presus de toate, in sertarele de nuc de sub
masa de langa patul nostru unde odinioara iti tineai
somniferele si medicamentele de indigestie:
aparatul auditiv, ochelarii, proteza dentara.
Florentina Rahira Tinte

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