Poetry International Poetry International
Poem

Nina Cassian

AND WHEN SUMMER COMES TO AN END

And when summer comes to an end
it’s like the world coming to an end.
Wilderness and terror – everywhere!

Days shrink
till all dignity’s gone.
Wet slabs of cloth
drape our bodies:
dejected coats.
And then we shiver, stumbling
into the holes of Winter Street
on the corner of Decline...

What’s the good of living
with the idea of Spring
– dangerous as any Utopia?

EN WANNEER DE ZOMER TEN EINDE KOMT

En wanneer de zomer ten einde komt
lijkt het einde van de wereld te komen.
Overal heerst is verlatenheid en angst.
De dag verschrompelt
totdat ze haar waardigheid verliest.
Op ons lichaam voelen we de druk
van natte tegels van textiel:
neerslachtige overjassen.
En huiverend struikelen we verder
door de kuilen in de Straat der Winter,
op het kruispunt met die van het Verval...

Wat heeft het nog voor zin te leven
met de gedachte aan het voorjaar
B gevaarlijk, als alle utopieën?

ŞÎ CÎND VINE SFÎRŞITUL VERII

parcă vine sfîrşitul lumii.
Totul e pustiire şi spaimă.
Ziua scade
pînă la pierderea demnităţii
Pe trupurile noastre cad
lespezi ude, de postav:
paltoanele deprimate.
Şi-apoi zgribuliţi, poticnindu-ne,
prin hîrtoapele străzii Iarnă,
colţ cu Declinului…

Ce rost are să mai trăim
cu ideea de primăvară
– primejdioasă, ca toate utopiile?
Close

AND WHEN SUMMER COMES TO AN END

And when summer comes to an end
it’s like the world coming to an end.
Wilderness and terror – everywhere!

Days shrink
till all dignity’s gone.
Wet slabs of cloth
drape our bodies:
dejected coats.
And then we shiver, stumbling
into the holes of Winter Street
on the corner of Decline...

What’s the good of living
with the idea of Spring
– dangerous as any Utopia?

AND WHEN SUMMER COMES TO AN END

And when summer comes to an end
it’s like the world coming to an end.
Wilderness and terror – everywhere!

Days shrink
till all dignity’s gone.
Wet slabs of cloth
drape our bodies:
dejected coats.
And then we shiver, stumbling
into the holes of Winter Street
on the corner of Decline...

What’s the good of living
with the idea of Spring
– dangerous as any Utopia?
Sponsors
Gemeente Rotterdam
Nederlands Letterenfonds
Stichting Van Beuningen Peterich-fonds
Ludo Pieters Gastschrijver Fonds
Lira fonds
Partners
LantarenVenster – Verhalenhuis Belvédère