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

Destinul dragostei e-ales. Atat am invatat
Luptandu-ma pentru-o imagine pe plac
Pe urmele invartitului zodiac.
Abia mi-atinse trupul acel barbat,
Abia ce se afunda din tarmul apusean
Or doara ce gasi un ragaz subpamantean,
Pe-al sanului meu miez de noapte maternal,
Mai inainte ca drumul spre miaza-noapte sa-i fi insemnat,
Mi s-a parut ca ma-nalt, desi zaceam intinsa in pat.

M-am luptat cu groaza noii zile ce in zori se-arata.
Mi-am ales-o ca soarta. De-as fi intrebata vreodat’
Despre placerea cea mai intensa ce-am avut-o cu-n barbat
De vreo mireasa proaspat cununata,
As lua spre pilda acea liniste profunda,
In care a lui inima si-a mea pareau ca se confunda
Si ambele purtate pe-o miraculoasa unda,
Acolo unde – asa cum un astrolog prea invatat a scris –
Zodiacul se schimba intr-o sfera, in paradis.

Traducere: Elena-Carmen Bobocescu, PhD student