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
(de la o femeie fara varsta)

Amorul nu e tras la sorti. Atat macar am aflat,
Cautand un chip pe orbita
Zodiacului ce se invarte.
Abia ce trupul m-a atins,
Abia ce din vest se cufunda
Sau ce gasi lacas subteran
In noaptea materna a sanului meu,
Inainte de a-i arata calea catre miazanoapte,
Si dreapta paream desi in pat zaceam.

Cu teroarea zorilor m-am luptat,
E soarta ce-am ales! De intrebat-as fi
Ce mi-e cel mai placut alaturi de-un barbat
De vreo proaspata mireasa, as lua
Drept pilda acea tacere,
In care inima-i parea a mea
Si amandoi purtati de valul miraculos
In care – scris-a un intelept astrolog –
Zodiacul se preschimba intr-o sfera.

Traducere: Alexandru Florin Popa, Second Year English Major