I lit the match
that set Laniakea on fire
you, Ely, could perform the miracle
of carrying
the linden flower
down to the
empty skull
where there
is a garden
where
nothing has bloomed to this day
and you
don't know
nor you can
find out either
and always
again
without
reason
you carry
the linden flower
to the
empty skull
*
you will come
with a
scared light
and a
flying brain
and the
transparent queen
will be
deflowered
Leonardo in
the the Lord's clothes
will draw
dazzling sketches
and will
let them
fall
from the
highest height
so high the
height is
when
Leonardo makes the sketches
that they
will never fall
the
transparent queen
will stay
as virgin
as a
dangerous verse
*
with the die in her
mouth
the empress
was eating
the
numerous earthlings
behind me
death was
already beating the drum
no one
counts
the comet
that won't
save anybody
but you,
Ely, hold in your eyes
the
non-existent empire
where you
are my sweetheart
(Translated by Octavian Cocoș)
Author’s
Bionote:
*Constantin
Barbu (born in
1954) is a prolific Romanian poet, philosopher, and essayist, renowned for his
ontological and experimental work. He studied at the universities of Craiova
(Romania) and Grenoble (France). He published his first article in the Romanian
magazine "Ramuri" (1975), then published the essay titled Evening Star and
Bhagavad-Gita in the journal of the University of Craiova. The great Romanian
philosopher Constantin Noica wrote: “Constantin Barbu - exceptionally gifted
for works of scholarship and literary history” (1981). Noica placed him at the
top of “the 22” young geniuses of Romania. Emil Cioran called him: “an
accomplice in the cult of Nothingness” (1989). Constantin Noica, Marin Sorescu
and Edgar Papu considered him “the philosopher of the young generation”. André Glücksmann recommended him to important
French government institutions as “the most important philosopher in Eastern
Europe.” He has published more than 40 books of poetry and essays, including "The Great Crossing of the Void", "The
Manuscripts of Mihai Eminescu", "The Self-version of
the Verse in the Void", "The Heavenly Bride", "Mental Experiences", " The
Book is me", "Nihilism with a Halo", "Skeletons in the Void",
"Meninges with Chimeras" and "The Poems Dedicated to
Angela". Several of his works were
translated into Italian, French, Swedish, and English. He is Director and
deputy director (from 2011 to present) of the Institute of History and
Cantemirian Studies, Dimitrie Cantemir Christian University in Bucharest. He is
a member of several academies:Tomitana and Universalis Poetarum in Constanta,
Dimitrie Cantemir Academy in Bucharest, Academia Hispanoamericana de Buenas
Letras in Madrid, Académie Européenne des Sciences, des Arts et Lettres in Paris,
Academy of Culture and Poetry in Ulaanbaatar, Academia Scientiarum et Artium
Europaea in Salzburg and International Academy of Ethics in India. He received
the Premio internazionale di poesia e narrativa Europa in versi. Dante
Alighieri Award, Como 2017, the award of the Pjëter Bogdani International
Writers Association, Brussels, Prishtina, 2019, the Poetry Prize of the
Académie Européenne des Sciences, des Arts et Lettres, Paris, 2020, the Medal
of the Mongolian Buddhist Center, 2022, the Alexander the Great Gold Medal (for
poetry), in Salamis, Greece, 2022 and
the Dante Prize of the Accademia delle Arti e delle Scienze Filosofiche,
2024.
