Nichita Danilov
The Twentieth Century
Realm
The Twentieth
Century
I was born when
God had not yet been born
and I died when
God
was already dead!
The twentieth
century was nearing its end.
Márquez had
written One Hundred Years of Solitude,
Nietzsche,
Thus Spake Zarathustra.
Man had left
footprints on the moon,
dead angels were
plummeting down from heaven.
On the horizon a
Third World War
intruded upon my
sight. Einstein had died
and God was
already dead!
The end of one
world was approaching its end
and there began
the beginning of the one man
no one believed
in any longer.
An ever bleaker
wind blew through the streets,
vultures wheeled in alarming circles
in the sky.
A deeper and
deeper funeral knell
heralded a new
beginning.
Hallelujah!
translated by
Adam J. Sorkin and Rodica Albu
Realm
A rainbow of
bells: the evening
washes its wounds
in the River,
the water flows
red,
the water flows
red
from I was
to I shall be.
A rainbow of
bells: the evening
drips cool chimes slowly down your
cheek,
the water flows
limpid,
the water flows
limpid
from Yesterday
to Today.
Ready yourself,
soul,
it’s late, oh,
it’s late!
The rainbow of
bells,
the rainbow of
bells
drinks our
blood’s last pulse,
all our peace
from the River.
A rainbow of
bells: the evening
presses white
soles to the window,
the water flows
clouded,
the water flows
clouded,
from I am
to I shall have been.
translated by
Adam J. Sorkin and Cristina Cîrstea
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