A Young Woman's Point Of View Poem by Peter Mamara

by M. Eminescu (1850-1889)

The voice of the pleasure, which is sweet, and beloved,
Calls up the thought process in my head
— Like the one that on a vast ocean,
Finds its direction behind closed doors, like a boat.

The stars seem angels to my mind.
Angels with shinning wings
And whose trembling hearts
Seem to me candles of new gold.

The law of Creation seems great to my wits.
Worlds that swim in the worlds of flames,
Candles set alight for Our Saviour,
For, the melt and the Resurrection are on fire.

But stronger, taller, sweeter,
Seems to my mind that it is the law of desire.
Without it one cannot be in this world.
Without it, like a quenched candle, a man would be dead.

Because of that, I do not wish to be:
God's pale rough copy,
Or a trickster, or a man lacking feeling,
Or an exhausted fire that seems to burn lively.

And I try to find a white forehead to caress
— On this large world.
And I shall lose my judgment
The way an echo loses a wandering name.

So with dreams of gold weaved in heaven,
I can crown the head of my woman lover,
Until unknown ghosts would break the shackle
So I would be alive and well.

(1869)

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