W.B.YEATS

CHOSEN

[from A WOMAN YOUNG AND OLD (1933)]

The lot of love is chosen. I learnt that much
Struggling for an image on the track
Of the whirling Zodiac.
Scarce did he my body touch,
Scarce sank he from the west
Or found a subterranean rest
On the maternal midnight of my breast
Before I had marked him on his northern way,
And seemed to stand although in bed I lay.


I struggled with the horror of daybreak,
I chose it for my lot! If questioned on
My utmost pleasure with a man
By some new-married bride, I take
That stillness for a theme
Where his heart my heart did seem
And both adrift on the miraculous stream
Where – wrote a learned astrologer–
The Zodiac is changed into a sphere.

W.B.YEATS

Ales

Soarta iubirii este aleasa. Macar atat am invatat
Zbatandu-ma pentru o imagine
Pe urmele zodiacului ce se roteste.
Abia daca el mi-a atins trupul,
Abia daca a venit dinspre vest
Sau daca a gasit vreun refugiu subpamantean,
La miezul-noptii matern de la sanul meu,
Inainte sa-l indrum pe calea sa nordica.
Si-mi parea ca stateam in picioare desi eram in pat.

M-am luptat cu groaza inceputului de zi,
Am ales-o drept soarta mea! Daca ma intreaba
Despre cea mai mare placere cu un barbat
Vreo mireasa abia maritata, mi-as lua
Ca tema nemiscarea,
In care inima lui a parut una cu a mea
Si amandoua in deriva pe raul miraculos
Unde – scria un astrolog invatat –
Zodiacul s-a preschimbat in sfera.

Traducere: Alexandra Sarbu, Second Year English Major