AN INTERVIEW WITH GOD

by Octavian Paler
Translated from Romanian by Adriana Papara


"You would like to interview me", God said.

"If you have time."

God smiled.

"My time is ETERNITY. What do you want to ask me?


"What surprises you the most about humans?"

God responded:

"The fact that they are bored with their childhood and are in a hurry to grow up . . . and then crave to be children.
"They lose their health by making money . . . and after that, they lose their money to regain their health.
"The fact that they are afraid about their future and forget the present, and so they don't live the present or the future; they live as if they will never die and die as if they have never lived."

God took my hand and we stayed silent for awhile.
Then I asked,

"As a parent, what should be the lessons about life that your kids have to know?"

"To learn that it takes just a few seconds to open deep wounds in the heart of loved ones.  And it takes years to cure these wounds.
"To learn that a rich man is not the one who has the 'most'; he is the man who needs less.
"To learn that there exist people who love but who don't know how to express their feelings.
"To learn that two men can see the same thing and see it in a different way.
"To learn that it is not enough to forgive others, but also they have to forgive themselves."

"Thanks for your time" I said, "But is there something else that humans have to know?"

God looked at me, laughing, . . and said:

"Just the fact that I am here FOREVER."

A PRESCIENT POEM

Adriana translated this poem for me at least two years ago, and in view of her sudden and completely unexpected passing recently I am struck by the irony of the title and the fact that she chose a poem which became so sadly appropriate.  I will quote the lines which impressed me the most before I present the entire translation:

"There is no time for a little tenderness,
When we do this, we’ll die." 

And the final lines (Adriana did not translate the entire poem and chose these lines as the ending): 

"I learned that you have to part from dear ones with sweet words,
It might be the last time you see them!"



WE HAVE TIME


by
Octavian Paler
Translated from Romanian by Adriana Papara



We have time for anything,

To sleep, to run from one place to another,

To regret that we made mistakes, and make others,

To judge others and absolve ourselves.


We have time to read and write,

To correct what we wrote, to regret what we have written,


We have time to make projects and don’t respect them,

We have time to make illusions, to search for them on the ashes later,

We have time for ambitions and diseases,

To blame destiny and the details,

We have time to look at the clouds, at advertising or an accident,


We have time to push away our questions,

To put off the answers,

We have time to break a dream and reinvent it,

We have time to make friends and lose them,

We have time to learn and to forget what we have learned,

We have time to receive gifts and not understand their meaning.


WE HAVE TIME FOR ANYTHING!


There is no time for a little tenderness,

When we do this, we’ll die.


In this life I have learned something that I have to share with you,

I learned that you cannot make someone love you.


All you can do is to be a beloved one,

The rest depends on the others,

I learned that it take years to gain trust,

and only a few seconds are enough to lose it,


I learned that it doesn’t matter WHAT you have in your life,

It matters WHO is in your life,

…
I learned that you have to part from dear ones with sweet words,

It might be the last time you see them!