M. Eminescu - Poesii / Poems

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EGYPT		EGIPETUL
Between far spreading Arab fields the Nile sweeps on its yellow way. The fire and gold of Egypt skies unroll their splendour to the day, Out of the deep slim rushes rise, fringing with green the flat brown barge; Like heavenly gems the silent flowers glimmer and sparkle in the light, Tender, tall and pure as snow some stand aloof and white, Some fiery red, some blue like eyes that waste their sorrow's overcharge, Among the weedy brakes that show wild in dense luxuriance, there Are nests in which exotic birds display and preen their feather rare, And lift their beaks in the sunlit air, and pour out sweet caressing song. Drowned in its everlasting dreams, welling from sacred far off springs, The Nile its silent legend and its restless yellow mirror swills Towards the placid waiting sea, where does its soul at last belong. Beside each bank green fertile plains in grateful smiling gladness lie. On the horizon Memphis stands, a mighty mound against the sky; Wall piled on wall, rock heaped on rock, a city raised by giant hands, A thought fantastic built in stone, a human mind grown wondrous tall ! Like a mountain range in its ancient pride rise up the bastions of its wall And clad by the day in a silver robe shine far across that prosperous land. And it seems to rise from the glamour of dreams, from the empty wilderness of sleep, From a hurricane of sand that the tempest's circling arm did reap; Like a thunderous thought of the holy sea flung by the sky to earth again. And there too rise from the trembling ground and stand in arrogant, timeless pride The mighty pyramids of old, as strange and as strong as the death they deride; Tombs which deep in their heavy breasts the epic of a scald contain. Twilight falls... the Nile sleeps on and the stars rise secretly over the sky, The moon on the sea her image throws, setting them midst the clouds to fly. Who does the pyramid's door unclose? Who does across that threshold climb? It is the lonely king, in a robe of scarlet embroidered with gems and gold; 'Tis he who enters the desert's tomb, and would the buried past unfold, To break his heart in gazing back across the flooded ford of time. In vain the kings of the earth endeavour with justice and with strength to reign, Rarer grow the deeds that prosper, omens ill around them gain. In vain indeed do they seek the reply to that riddle no man can tell. Night falls. . . and the shadows creep out of the desert's outmost places, Across the Nile's long ebb, just as over the tides of stricken races, The brooding, lonely thoughts of that King like those deep shadows darkening fell. The dream of the painted pyramids, of the cool flowing face of the Nile, The restless murmur of trembling reeds, beneath the moon's embracing smile, That look like giant sheafs of corn, or an army of silver headed spears, The hidden light of waters and all night and desert's greatness Conspire to unfold beneath the moon that Empire's glory and timeless night And to conjure fantastic visions in air, and fill the deserts with strange chimeras. The sacred river whispers on in the rippling voice of the fleeting tide The tale of its endless flowing by, of the nameless folk that have lived by its side, Till the soul is drunken with dreaming dreams as swift and as smooth as the river's tale. Endless groves of shivering palms, that gleam in the moonbeams' golden light And that lift their slender silver stems, like countless masts, to the luminous night, While the waves on the river delight in their spray and the sky on its clouds sets sail. In the stately ancient temples there, mid pillars of marble white as snow, Each night the Gods in their raiments pure with measured places come and go, While softly chanted to silver harps the songs of grey-haired priests arise. To the endless sobbing winds of the sands, to the boundless dark of the night around, From the topmost stones of the pyramid's crest each night re-echoes that ghostly sound Of the Kings that moan in their mighty vaults, and fill the world's dome with their sighs. An Arab tower stands erect, the river flowing at its feet, And there the magus gazes down upon that mirror's yellow sheet; For all the sky with all its stars is faithfully assembled there, And his own image very small seeks out amidst those tangled rays The secret of eternity, till with a wand he draws the ways That lead to what is right and true, and what is valuable and fair. And thus perchance above the surge of a bloodless, pale and effeminate folk, Of villainous kings, debased with crime, of a priesthood concealed in corruption's cloak, The magus night's inverted sign will read that foretells of destruction at last, When the wind sweeps up from the desert's brow all its sand in a mountain crested wave That swallows tall cities with temple and tower, and makes of each dwelling a grave, Thus hiding the shame of a people defiled, of an era of darkness in time that is past. Hurricanes blindly gallop on, till their chargers finally fall in the race, And the wind-lashed flood of the risen Nile sweeps frantically over the desert's face, That the best of Egypt's flowering plains are engulfed by the stream in its raging strife. And from Thebes to Memphis the country is turned to a ruined and empty, desolate strand, Where wandering tribes will plant their tents at night upon the scorching sand, A homeless people ranging wide through the lonely legend of their life. Once more the restless stars look down on the river's billowing mirror of gold, The red flamingo takes its way across the waters as of old, O'er antique Egypt once again the silver moonlight palely laves. And the soul turns back from its journeying dreams to listen anew to the ancient story, To the ears of the living present steals the wondrous pomp of the past in its glory While strange prophetic voices rise from the stirring muttering lips of the waves. Till Memphis lifts again its head above the desert's silver plan, Shuddering still from the horrible shock of the tempest's blast of ruin and pain... And the Bedouin Arabs beneath the moon look up with awestruck frightened eyes And tell strange tales of flowers and stars that shine for an hour and pass away Of cities that rise from the desert's bones and fade to dust at the close of day, And songs that out of the musical land and from under the sea at sunset rise. For bells there are beneath the sea, that muffled peal at evening hour, And many a garden down in the Nile, with apple hanging orchard bower; But under the silent desert sand a sad and stricken nation hides; And when no one sees, these folk awake in their fallen cities that once were strong. And into the halls of Memphis proud as in the olden days they throng, And drink and dance and make carouse, while the moon o'er the heavens rides. Translated by Corneliu M. Popescu		Nilul misca valuri blonde pe cimpii cuprinsi de Maur, Peste el cerul d'Egipet desfacut in foc si aur ; Pe-a lui maluri galbui, sese, stuful creste in adinc, Flori, juvaeruri in aer, sclipesc tainice in soare, Unele-albe, nalte, fragezi, ca argintul de ninsoare, Alte rosii ca jaratic, alte-albastre, ochi ce plang. Si prin tufele de maturi, ce cresc verzi, adance, dese Paseri imblinzite 'n cuiburi destind penele alese, Ciripind cu ciocu 'n soare, gugiulindu-se cu-amor. Inecat de vecinici visuri, rasarit din sfinte-isvoare, Nilul misc' a lui legenda si oglinda-i galbam-clara Catra marea linistita ce ineaca a lui dor. De-a lui maluri sunt unite cimpii verzi si tari ferice : Memfis colo 'n departare, cu zidurile-i antice, Mur pe mur, stanca pe stanca, ---o cetate de giganti, Sint gindiri arhitectonici de-o mgrozava maretie ! --- Au zidit munte pe munte in antica lor trufie, --- I-a 'mbracat cu-argint, ca 'n soare sa luceasca intr'un lant, Si sa para rasarite din visarile pustiei, Din nisipuri argintoase in miscarea vijeliei, Ca un gind al marii sfinte, reflectat de cerul cald Si-aruncat in departare... Colo se ridic' trufase Si eterne ca si moartea piramidelor-uriase, Racle ce incap in ele epopeia unui scald. S 'nsereaza... Nilul doarme si ies stelele din strunga, Luna 'n mare isi arunca chipul si prin nori le-alunga. Cine-a deschis piramida si 'nauntru a intrat? Este regele : In haina de-aur ros si pietre scumpe El intra sa vad' acolo tot trecutul. --- I se rumpe Al lui suflet cand priveste peste-al vremurilor vad. In zadar guverna regii lumea cu intelepciune, Se 'nmultesc semnele rele, se 'mputin' faptele bune : In zadar caut' al vietii inteles nedeslegat. Iese 'n noapte... si-a lui umbra lunga 'ntins se desfasoara Pe-ale Nilului lungi valuri. --- Astfel pe-unde de popoare Umbra gandurilor regii se arunca 'ntunecat. Ale piramidei visuri, ale Nilului reci unde, Ale trestiilor sunet ce sub luna ce patrunde Par a fi snopuri gigantici de lungi sulite de-argint, Toat'a apei, a pustiei si a noptii maretie Se unesc sa 'mbrace mindru veche-acea imparatie, Sa invie in deserturi sir de visuri ce te mint. Riul sfant ne povesteste cu-ale undelor lui gure De-a isvorului sau taina, despre vremi spuse, sure ; Sufletul se 'mbata 'n visuri care-aluneca in sbor, Palmii risipiti in cranguri, auriti de-a lunei raza, Nalta sveltele lor trunchiuri. ---Nopatea-i clara, luminoasa Undele viseaza spume, cercurile 'nsira nori. Si in templele marete, clonade 'n marmuri albe, Noaptea zeii se preumbla in vestmintele lor dalbe, Si al preotilor cintec suna 'n harfe de argint ; Si la vintul din pustie, la racoarea noptii bruna, Piramidele din crestet aiurind si jalnic suna, Si salbatic se pling regii in giganticul mormint. In zidirea cea antica, sus in frunte-i turnul maur. Magul priivea pe ganduri in oglinda lui de aur, Unde-a cerului mii de stele ca 'ntr'un centru se adun'. El in mic priviste-acolo caile lor tainuite Si cu varga zugraveste drumurile lor gasite : Au aflat simburul lumii, tot ce-i drept, frumos si bun. Si se poate ca spre raul unei ginti efeminate, Regilor patati de crime, preotimii desfrinate, Magul, paza razbunarii, a cetit semnul intors ; Si-atunci vintul ridicat-a tot nisipul din pustiuri, Astupand cu el orase, ca gigantice sicriuri Unei ginti ce fara viata 'ngreuia pamantul stors. Uraganu-acum alearga pan' ce caii lui ii crapa Si in Nil numai desertul nisipisul si-l adapa, Asternandu-l peste cimpii cei odata infloriti. Memfis, Teba, tara 'ntreaga coperita-i de ruine, Prin desert strabat salbatic mari familii beduine, Sorind viata lor de basme pe cimpie risipiti. Dar si-acum turburind stele pe-ale Nilului lungi unde Noaptea flamingo cel rosu apa 'ncet, incet patrunde, Si-acum luna arginteste tot Egiptul antic ; Si-atunci sufletul viseaza toat' istoria straveche, Glasul din trecut strabate l'a prezentului ureche, Din a valurilor sfada proriciri se aridic'. Si-atunci Memfis se inalta, argintos gand al pustiei, Inchegare maiestrita din suflarea vijeliei... Beduini ce stau in luna, o minune, o privesc, Povestindu-si basme mindre imbracate 'n flori si stele De orasul care iese din pustiile de jele ; Din pamant si de sub mare s'aud sunete ce cresc. Marea-n fund clopote are cara suna-n noapte; Nilu-n fund gradina are, pomi cu mere de-aur coapte; Sub nisipul din pustie cufundat e un popor, Ce cu orasele-i deodata se trezeste si se duce Sus in curtile din Memfis, unde-n sali lumina luce; Ei petrec in vin si-n chiot orice noapte pin-in zori. 1872, 1 oct. (Transpusa in format electronic de Victor Bortas jr) Mihail Eminescu
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