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!