Saturday, November 14, 2020

"My Days", a poem by Elisaveta Bagryana, year 1927

Source:

Вечната и святата (The eternal and the holy) (1927)



Above: Elisaveta Bagryana.

Elisaveta Bagryana (Bulgarian: Елисавета Багряна; born April 16, 1893, died March 23, 1991), born Elisaveta Lyubomirova Belcheva (Bulgarian: Елисавета Любомирова Белчева), was a Bulgarian poet who wrote her first verses while living with her family in Veliko Tarnovo in 1907-08. She, along with Dora Gabe (1886-1983), is considered one of the "first ladies of Bulgarian women's literature". She was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature three times.

The poem:

Летете - радостни или омразни,
И делници и празници.
Летете, няма да ви смятам,
Дни мои на земята -
Вий, сиви гълъби и бели, -
Излитнали от моите ръце
И някъде в безкрая отлетели
Като към предначална цел...

На шийките ви малките писма,
Привързани от мен самата,
Сърдечен ли и близък ще ги вземе?
Или ще паднете без време -
достигнали едва сред път?

Или стрела ще ви прониже
И чужди погледи ще спрат
Над земните ми радости и грижи?

Летете - няма да ви смятам,
Дни мои на земята,
Разкъсали трептящото сърце
И литнали навеки от ръцете ми -
Които нямат сила да ви спрат,
Когато пожелаят страстно -
Или веднага, бърже да ви тласнат,
Когато часовете ги морят.

English translation (my own):

Fly — joyful or hateful,
And weekdays and holidays.
Fly, I won't count you,
My days on earth —
Howl, gray doves and white, —
They flew out of my hands
And somewhere in the end they flew away
As an initial whole...

On your necks the little letters,
Attached by myself,
Will a heartfelt and close person take them?
Or you will fall without time —
reached just in the middle of the road?

Or an arrow will pierce you
And other people's eyes will stop
Above my earthly joys and worries?

Fly — I won't count you,
My days on earth,
They tore the trembling heart
And flew from my hands forever —
Who have no power to stop you,
When they want passionately —
Or immediately, to be pushed faster,
When the hours are tired.

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