Moartea caprioarei

Seceta a ucis orice boare de vant.
Soarele s-a topit si a curs pe pãmânt.
A rãmas cerul fierbinte si gol.
Ciuturile scot din fantana namol.
Peste paduri tot mai des focuri, focuri,
Danseaza salbatice, satanice jocuri.

Mã iau dupa tata la deal printre tarsuri,
Si brazii mã zgarie, rai si uscati.
Pornim amandoi vanatoarea de capre,
Vanatoarea foametei în muntii Carpati.
Setea mã naruie. Fierbe pe piatra
Firul de apa prelins din cismea.
Tampla apasa pe umar. Pasesc ca pe-o alta
Planeta, imensa si grea.

Asteptam intr-un loc unde inca mai suna,
Din strunele undelor line, izvoarele.
Când va scapata soarele, când va licari luna,
Aici vor veni sã s-adape
Una cate una caprioarele.

Spun tatii ca mi-i sete si-mi face semn sã tac.
Ametitoare apa, ce limpede te clatini!
Mã simt legat prin sete de vietatea care va muri
La ceas oprit de lege si de datini.

Cu fosnet vestejit rasufla valea.
Ce-ngrozitoare inserare pluteste-n univers!
Pe zare curge sange si pieptul mi-i rosu, de parca
Mainile pline de sange pe piept mi le-am sters.

Ca pe-un altar ard ferigi cu flacari vinetii,
Si stelele uimite clipira printre ele.
Vai, cum as vrea sã nu mai vii, sã nu mai vii,
Frumoasa jertfa a padurii mele!

Ea s-arata saltand si se opri
Privind în jur c-un fel de teama,
Si narile-i subtiri infiorara apa
Cu cercuri lunecoase de arama.

Sticlea în ochii-i umezi ceva nelamurit,
Stiam ca va muri si c-o s-o doara.
Mi se parea ca retraiesc un mit
Cu fata prefacuta-n caprioara.
De sus, lumina palida, lunara,
Cernea pe blana-i calda flori calde de cires.
Vai cum doream ca pentru-intaia oara
Bataia pustii tatii sã dea gres!

Dar vaile vuira. Cazuta în genunchi,
Ea ridicase capul, il clatina spre stele,
Il pravali apoi, starnind pe apa
Fugare roiuri negre de margele.
O pasare albastra zvacnise dintre ramuri,
Si viata caprioarei spre zarile tarzii
Zburase lin, cu tipat, ca pasarile toamna
Când lasa cuiburi sure si pustii.

Impleticit m-am dus si i-am inchis
Ochii umbrosi, trist strajuiti de coarne,
Si-am tresarit tacut si alb când tata
Mi-a suierat cu bucurie: - Avem carne!

Spun tatii ca mi-i sete si-mi face semn sã beau.
Ametitoare apa, ce-ntunecat te clatini!
Mã simt legat prin sete de vietatea care a murit
La ceas oprit de lege si de datini...
Dar legea ni-i desarta si straina
Când viata-n noi cu greu se mai anina,
Iar datina si mila sunt desarte,
Când soru-mea-i flamanda, bolnava si pe moarte.

Pe-o nara pusca tatii scoate fum.
Vai, fãrã vant alearga frunzarele duium!
Inalta tata foc infricosat.
Vai, cat de mult padurea s-a schimbat!
Din ierburi prind în maini fãrã sã stiu
Un clopotel cu clinchet argintiu...
De pe frigare tata scoate-n unghii
Inima caprioarei si rarunchii.

Ce-i inima? Mi-i foame! Vreau sã traiesc si-as vrea ....
Tu, iarta-mã, fecioara - tu, caprioara mea!
Mi-i somn. Ce nalt îi focul! Si codrul, ce adânc!
Plang. Ce gandeste tata? Mananc si plang. Mananc!

The death of the deer

The drought has stifled every feather of wind,
The sun melted down on the earth, left behind
An empty, exhausted, blistering sky,
The buckets come up from the fountains all dry.
More and more over woods fires, fires,
Dance above savage, demoniac pyres.

I follow my father through the bushes uphill,
The fir-trees scrape me, withered up and evil
Together, we start the deer hunting quest,
The hunting of hunger in the Carpathian forest.
Thirst ruins me. The thin string of water
Drip, drop, from the spout is sizzling on stone.
My temple is throbbing. I walk on another
Enormous and heavy, strange planet alone.

We wait in a place where, from strings of calm waves,
The streams still resound.
When the sun will be set, when the moon will rise, round,
One by one, in a line, up here,
they will come to drink, the deer.

I say “Father, I`m thirsty!” he hushes me at once,
Bemusing water, how clearly you glow!
I`m tied by thirst to the soul meant to die
At an hour forbidden by custom and by law.

The valley rustles with a withered hiss,
Crosswise the sky, a dire twilight lit
the clouds, and far, above the cliff,
blood drips. My chest is red, as if
I wiped my hands of blood on it.

With bluish flames through ferns, as in a dream,
Astounded stars begin to gleam
Sacrifice of my woods, oh, beautiful prey,
How I wish you did not come, how I pray!

She bounces lightly then she stops
And looks with caution through the grass
Her slender nostrils stirred the water
In circles shimmering like brass.

A hazy fear glared deep inside her eyes
I knew that she would suffer;
I knew that she would die,
As she stood there, still, she was the sheer
Myth of the maid embodied in a deer.

White cherry flowers, high above her
The moon was sifting on her fur.

Oh, how I wish, oh, how I pray,
My father`s gun to miss its prey!

The valleys roared. Knelt, in the stream,
She raised her head, as in a dream
She watched the sky, the moon, the stars
Then fell and water gleamed with scars.
A blue bird rushed, in a tree, unknown
The deer`s life has softly flown,
Crying like birds when they depart
And their fall migrations start.

I went to close her eyes, below
So sadly laid her antlers shadow
I startled livid when, suddenly, offbeat,
My father screeched with joy: “Meat, we have meat!

I say “Father, I`m thirsty!” he nods that I may drink.
Bemusing water, how sullenly you glow!
I feel tied by thirst to the soul that died
At an hour forbidden by custom and by law…
But our laws are useless and dead
When our life hangs up on a thread
And custom, law and pity are quickly gone
When sis` is sick and hungry at home.

The smokes comes out of my father`s gun
The leafage in flocks starts to run!
My father kindles a terrible fire

The wood seems now darker and higher!
I pick up from the grass, as in a dream,
A tiny bell with silver gleam,
My father, from the spit rends with his nails
The deer`s heart and her entrails.

You, heart? I`m hungry! I want to live, I wish, although…
Forgive me deer, forgive me virgin-doe!
I`m tired. How tall is now the fire! The woods, how deep!
I cry. What does my father think? I eat and cry. I eat!