Steliana Gima: Matilda Caragiu-Marioțeanu’s Poems in English, part 1

My church

My church is the sky

It is the wind that blows

Between me and HIM

Without walls

Without towers

Without roof

My heart as a bell

That exhausts beating

With love.

My church is the sky:

With stings of the mind

Ripping the clouds

I rise

I elude the cloths

The people

The dust

Of anything that creeps on the ground.

my church…

is the sky

since the son of Man

is caught and  crucified on earth

poem written by Matilda Caragiu-Marioțeanu, published in her book : Néuri. Zăpezi. Neiges  13 Poemi. Poeme. Poèmes at Editura Logos, 2002. You can find the book online with the Aromanian, Romanian and French versions of the poem here.

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Testament for my daughter

My daughter, my adored

You, who were not born neither in Gramoste

Nor in Samarina

Nor  in Hrupisti

Nor in Perivoli

Who did not drink water carried with  buckets

From Dolta

From Bucuvala’s fountain

From Vergina’s little creek

Who knows neither the meaning

Of the Argos lamb

Of the baking tin pie. crust baked

Of the „bread juice”

Made by Aromanian mother,

Of sweet „bucuvala”

Of „butter green cheese”

Who did not kiss the hand of an old man

Of a grandfather

Of venerable mothers

With golden hands

You, who did not stay  hidden, your betrothed to appear

Who did not marry without knowing her husband

Who doesn’t even know what the eye that whitens means

Due to such a long waiting

And due to such a love…

My daughter, my gentle sheep

My snowball

Bead like eye

Hazel tree body

Turtle dove like voice

Hold my, hold my hand.

© translation: Stela Gima