HONEYCOMBS OF DEW

HONEYCOMBS OF DEW

-         HAIKU –

Nicotiana-

Open under the blue skies,

Dear Mother of God.

*

Bitter cherry trees

On the top of Câineşti hill –

autumn in scarlet.

*

Innocent childhood-

Cuckoos in bloom acacias,

Scented violets.

*

A church bell’s calling

At daybreak in Surpate-

Call into heaven.

*

The Fountain Valley

Golden butterflies and mint-

Horses in tethers.

  

*

  Birch trees on the hill,

Bustling, rustling in my thoughts,

Longing for leaving.

*

On Smerci, russet goats,

Guardian, the barefoot child-

Heavens getting close.

*

 In Livadie-

Autumn with John-apple trees,

Glorious sunset.

 *

Running fountains –

Mary Brâncoveanu’s,

Such a sad coolness.

*

The Vârteju glade-

Running through the barley,

Tall up to your neck.

*

Many dragon flies and

So many long and thin reeds-

My dearest youth years.

On the old beech tree,

Voichiţa crucified –

Heathen times of yore.

In Valea Rece,

Grottos and old Jewish men –

Crying tears of blood.

The Crimson River –

Trembling and resounding waves

Filling up my heart.

The birch trees swinging,

Embraces of pliant winds –

A child’s ecstasy.

*

Down, in the clearing –

At the foot of the forest,

Hear horses neighing.

 Father, woodworker –

Poppy red covers and roofs,

Fir-tree resin scent.

My mother’s portrait –

Tantalizing Orient,

Water reflection.

*

Grandfather reading

Malraux’s Human Condition,

Late, tardy autumn.

  

Those tulips, so red,

Summertime in Govora –

Silky rose flowers.

 Up on the Sea Coast-

Flying wild geese in the sky,

Autumn is raining.

The playful squirrels

Up in the wild cherry trees –

Rumors and hubbab.

  

Graves stones, lost in dreams

In Colnic Cemetery –

Cry of a mother.

  

In greenish waters,

Gold filling up large barrels-

Buffalos in moors.

  

Nut tree canopies,

The wavy children scooter-

Ancient village lanes.

Adders and sorel –

The sun in the alder trees,

Growing in the dales.

 Golden rays of sun,

The fountain with a swing-sweep-

Peace in paradise.

Birch trees slumbering

During Midsummer day nights-

White apparitions.

  

Summertime berries

Watching themselves in the flow-

Angels wondering.

  

Shouts of joy, games of

Ruffled kids, gypsy woman

Who plays the fiddle.

  

Riverside meadows,

Scented cobalt violets-

Voroneţ crumbled.

  

Surpate, wedding-

Aloysia as bride- to- be,

Bridegroom in the snow.

  

Adolescence years,

Starts murmuring in the sky-

Barefoot peony.

The spring up in Pisc-

A maiden’s benefaction,

My mother’s pure tear.

 At Udrea, in autumn-

Fugacious nostalgia,

Windows to the sky.

Sour Cherry trees

Enveloped in flower swings-

An infant crying.

It is summertime,

Goat kids in the drousy grove-

Red blood corpuscles.

  

Summer, blackberries-

Our bare feet full of thorns,

Oh, the joyful mouth.

  

Our school teacher-

The lilac tree in the yard

Of primary school.

  

Crossed acacias-

Voivodal chills and shudder,

Mother astonished.

  

At Ferigi, offsprings-

Fox cubs chasing green lizards

Through wild strawberries.

  

Butterflies and birds,

Tender flowers of quince tree-

Eyelashes fluttering.

  

At Ispas, with us-

A blackbird’s young ones flying

Amidst the birch trees.

  

A boyar’s mansion-

Climbing up the gloomy walls

Golden sunflowers.

  

Carts next to horses,

All marching in the sunrise-

Golden fields of rye.

  

Orchestra swallows

On electrical cables-

Such a funny staves.

The beech tree forest,

Stray cornflowers, here and there-

The remote village.

  

The afternoon nap,

Rhinoceros in the blood-

The savannah’s grass.

  

The pond with willows

Bowing before waters-

Sweet years of childhood.

My mother’s fine hand

Caressing silky flowers-

Tardy remorse.

  

A log-tailed lizard

Lying on the palid stones-

Buddha lost in dreams.

  

The wild shepherd’s thyme,

Crickets on a holiday-

Summertime buzzing.

  

Beneath the nut trees

In Ispas place, in springtime-

A shower of gold.

  

Yellow cornel tree

Under the sour cherry -

Mother and her son.

  

The wild geese rowing

Amidst the orange twilight-

The village in flames.

  

Dash through strawberries-

Big stars twinkling in the sky,

Ruby coloured lips.

  

Centuries old oaks

At Dintr-un Lemn, on the hills,

A monk hanged himself.

 Colnic, in winter-

Icy cold blue snowstorms,

Barefoot mother.

Long hair in the wind

Chasing navy butterflies-

Freckled little one.

  

Ciuleandra under the nut

Tree, circles spinning-

Violins playing.

  

Mum, in the lamp light

Weaving carpets at he loom-

the wolves in the snow.

  

The faithful black sheep,

Florea, the friar, limping-

The flute at his waist.

  

Cuckoos in gentle,

Somnolent polpar meadows-

The village at dawn.

  

Poppies lost in dreams

In the middle of the day-

Fluttering of wings.

  

Eyes of a sweet girl-

Beads of dew on the flowers,

Thrills of eyelashes.

Innocent childhood –

Bathing in brackish waters

In a warm summer.

  

The sweet nightingale,

The monastery’s meadow-

A friar weeping.

 Talica-on the porch-

Fuchsia and oleander,

Mother, far away.

  

The bluish crosses-

Shadow over the mountains,

Memento mori.

  

At the lake of Stags,

Deers waiting in the reed-

Honeymoon blossom.

  

Surpate at dawn-

Snowy pigeons in quince trees,

The Athos Mountain.

  

Father on the houses,

In the mantle of daybreak-

Mountain peony.

 Summertime shower,

Rainbow over the spinneys-

Heart boiling in thrills.

  

Flocks of navy birds

On the spire of the church-

Snowfalls of yore times.

  

A violets’nest

The village of Şerbăneşti-

Hung by a rainbow.

  

Dusk in the summer-

Taciturnities wrapped in

Venetian velvets.

  

Lake in Bărcoasa-

Seagulls nesting in the reed,

Flight of dragon flies.

Children, cherry tree,

Stories from the Orient-

Seraglio elope.

  

Bishop in decline-

Orchestrating a swan’s song,

Side by side with God.

  

Child, shepherd of geese-

Water’s looking glasses and

Willows hide the wind.

 The Fountain’s Vallez-

Horses bounded to birch trees,

Badgers in a heat.

  

Alders, in summer-

Peacocks of monastery

Mantes and nuns.

The magnolias –

Sat on the Brancovan porch,

Wild strawberries jam.

Pann under willows-

The Hospital of Love,

Ancuţa laughing.

 Grandpa in the oaks-

Sturdy saps climbing up,

Tubes of an organ.

  

Fields wrapped in yellow-

Modesty becomes fairies,

Longing for Florence.

  

The Palace of Dukes

Veronesse, San Marco-

Late emotions.

  

At Racşa, in fall-

The cloche with ostrich feather,

Plums coated in frost.

  

On Grand Canale-

Tintoretto and Judas,

The red turban on.

  

Moscow, summertime-

Kremlin, so red the tulips,

Accordions, vodka.

Tarskoe Selo-

The tzar, immaculate swans,

Artesian wells.

Autumn in Gruzia-

Fleshy figs and rosy wines,

Delicate eyebrows.

  

In Azerbaidjan-

Persian women with ankles

Of creamy chocolate.

Baku, on the shores-

Velvet Persian carpets,

Camels, trampling on.

Winter at Coştiui-

Mary, school in the castle,

Plane trees missing leaves.

Innocent childhood-

Mulberries laughing on cheeks,

Knees choking with tears.

 Hip roses on hills,

Wild cherry trees – such dancers,

Autumn at its peak.

Minarets, kebab,

Vae Victis, Byzanthium!-

Christians in blood.

My mother crying-

Sweet and sour gooseberries,

Pure soul of a child.

  

The Kursk submarine-

Nuclear guided missiles,

Sailors and mothers.

  

Paris at twilight-

Rodica Iliescu-

Lily stained windows.

  

Dragoş Vrânceanu-

The house below the forest,

The dandelions.

  

At Boişoara-

The mountain peony,

The rams in a heat.

During September-

Passage birds and clouds  gliding,

Gold mulberry trees.

Surpate, summer

The wild strawberry plants and

The snakes on the rocks.

  

At Stânişoara-

The monastery in the skies,

Monks in the flowers.

 It’s hunting time-

Brâncoveanu’n Surpate,

Princesses, wild boars.

  

Grandmother’s cottage-

Sour cherries marmalade,

Goat kids on the porch.

Magi on camels

Infant crucified on lily-

Gentle brilliance.

  

The Danube Delta

Pelicans, Lippovans and

Lotus on water.

Road through sobs and tears-

Turks carrying green banners

Tartars in a shout.

  

Uncle Alexandru-

Stories of bluish phantoms,

Awake night with stars.

The Field of Turda-

Voivod Mihai’s head, Basta,

The honves on horses.

 Summer in the groves-

Gypsies picking blackberries,

Red head kerchiefs.

In the afternoon-

Van Gogh, absinth, the field of

Blooming sunflower.

  

On Nevski Prospect-

Sergei Esenin, reddish

Boots, rubashka.

Air raids and shelling-

The beautiful Serbia,

K.F.O.R. troops.

  

Easter, ungrated

Apricot trees blossoming-

Jesus in orchards.

Otăsău in summer-

Geese in the water, willows

Swinging in the wind.

Story in the grass -

At the fountain’n Bărcoasa,

Under sycamores.

 The peace in the soul-

Goshawks circling in the sky.

Bloody wild poppies.

 Sky-blue overalls-

The Chemical Factory,

Tulips and chlorine.

  

Roman encampments-

Shiny helmets and copper shields,

Silver poniards.

Autumn fog and haze-

Sunday sadness and sorrow,

Green salamanders.

Oil bearing ground-

Derricks, wells, a field of  rye,

Oily hip roses.

 Springtime at its peak-

The monastery peacocks,

Peach trees blossoming.

The sheik with a hawk-

Bedouin nostalgia,

Scheherezade.

  

Clearings in the woods-

Adoration elegies,

Linden tree fragrance.

Beneath late snowfalls-

Hazelnut tree catkins and

Vermilion foxes.

  

Father, Mariuşa,

The block station with lilac-

Odessa in flames.

Râmnic with orioles-

A drilling machine, orchids,

Mendicant poets.

  

Releases of books-

Human shapes wrapped in haze,

Barbiturates.

  

Wind blowing in groves -

Swinging in its way birch trees

Housing nests and chicks.

Baby trout sleeping,

Spring in the river thicket-

Scented violets.

Hamlet in the woods-

The Burnt Hermitage, Tartars,

Heavy snowfalls.

Kasatchock, vodka-

Russian armoured cars crossing

The wild berries glade.

  

The cornel trees glade-

Mowing men having a rest

In lavender fields.

 At dawn daybreak dew-

The roe deer with its offspring

Through the fairies.

Silence in the ferns-

The fox cubs sunk into deep sleep,

Oh, sweet chilliness.

Nuns at the river-

Blood-stained and scarlet roses,

Honeycombs of dew.

August 2015

                          Translate at Prof. Ştefănescu Alina Petruţa