Mihai Eminescu Quotes and Poems

Arise again, beloved, out of the waves of time
With your long golden tresses and marble arms sublime;
Your face that now transparent and pale as wax is pale
Is shaded by the shadow of sorrow's clinging veil!
Your timid smile caressing does rest within my eyes,
O star amidst fair women, o queen of starry skies;
Your head upon your shoulder its wealth of beauty lays
And in your eyes of wonder I'm lost and weeping gaze.

Out of the void's dark vapours may you once more uprear,
That to my heart I clasp you, beloved angel dear,
That I in nameless weeping above your face may bend
And on your lips forever my burning kisses spend.
While your cold hand unheeding I clasp against my breast,
Closer, yet still closer, against my bosom pressed.

Alas, not thus the darkness gives back its own again;
Now through its icy vapours I see your shadow wane.
With hanging arms and helpless once more I am alone
Before a dream unending of hours that have gone;
In vain with arms outstretching my soul your shadow craves,
Dear one, I cannot reach you amidst time's rolling waves.

See the swallows quit the eaves
And fall the yellow walnut leaves,
The vines with autumn frost are numb,
Why don't you come, why don't you come?

Oh, come into my arms' embrace
That I may gaze upon your face,
And lay my head in grateful rest
Against your breast, against your breast!

Do you remember when we strayed
The meadows and the secret glade,
I kissed you midst flowering thyme
How many a time, how many a time?

Some women on the earth there are
Whose eyes shine as the evening star,
But be their charm no matter what,
Like you they're not, like you they're not!

For you shine in my soul always
More softly than the starlight blaze,
More splendid than the risen sun,
Beloved one, beloved one!

But it is late in autumn now,
The leaves have fallen from the bough,
The fields are bare, the birds are dumb...
Why don't you come, why don't you come?

What is love ? A lifetime spent
Of days that pain does fill,
That thousand tears can't content,
But asks for tears still.

With but a little glance coquet
Your soul it knows to tie,
That of its spell you can't forget
Until the day you die.

Upon your threshold does it stand,
In every nook conspire,
That you may whisper hand in hand
Your tale of heart's aspire.

Till fades the very earth and sky,
Your heart completely broken,
And all the world hangs on a sigh,
A word but partly spoken.

It follows you for weeks and weeks
And in your soul assembles
The memory of blushing cheeks
And eyelash fair that trembles.

It comes to you a sudden ray
As though of starlight's spending,
How many and many a time each day
And every night unending.

For of your life has fate decreed
That pain shall it enfold,
As does the clinging water-weed
About a swimmer hold.

What I wish for you, sweet Romania,
My glorious country, my country I yearn for?
The nervous arms, arms with vigour,
Your great past, a constant future!
Boil the wine in its cups, make it foam,
If your proud children wish it so;
The rock remains, although the wave dies,
Sweet Romania, I desire you.
  
I dream of vengeance, black as the grave
Your sword of blood, smoking/steaming from the enemy,
and on top of the hydra which billows by the wind
Your dream of proud, succeeding glory
What they say of the world, coloured flags,
That which are the people, grand and Romanian,
When he strikes, sacrificing his naive flame
Sweet Romania, this I wish for you.
  
The angel of love, the angel of peace,
Mysteriously smiling on Vesta's altar,
That becomes blind to the glorious Mars
When your lamp illuminates the world,
Him on your breast that continues sloping down,
That like the happiness of celestial paradise,
You take it in the arms, make altars,
Sweet, Romania, this I desire for you.
  
What I wish for you, sweet Romania,
You, young bride, mother with love!
your children always live as brothers
Like stars in the night, as dawn,
Life in eternity, glory, joy,
Weapons with strength,for the Romanian soul
Dream of courage, pride and grandeur,
Sweet Romania, this I desire for you!

With the curtains drawn together,
At my table of rough wood,
And the firelight flickering softly,
Do I fall to thoughtful mood.

Flocks and flocks of sweet illusions,
Memories the mind recalls,
And they softly creep like crickets
Through time's grey and crumbled walls;

Or they drop with gentle patter
On the pavement of the soul,
As does wax before God's altar
From the sacred candles roll.

About the room in every corner
Silver webs the spiders sew,
While among the dusty bookshelves
Furtive mice soft come and go.

And I gaze towards the ceiling
That so many times I saw,
And listen how the bindings
With their tiny teeth they gnaw.

O, how often have I wanted
My worn lyre aside to lay;
From poetry and solitude
At last my thoughts to turn away.

But again the mice, the crickets,
With their small and rustling tread
Awake in me familiar logings
And with poetry fill my head.

Once in a while, alast too rarely,
When my lamp is burning late,
Suddenly my heart beats wildly
For I hear the latch-bar grate.

It is She.
My dusky chamber
In a moment seems to glow;
As if an icon's holy lustre
Did o'er life's threshold flow.

And I know not how the moments
Have the heart away to sneak,
While we whisper low our loving,
Hand in hand, and cheek to cheek.

Time goes by, time comes along,
All is old and all is new;
What is right and what is wrong,
You must think and ask of you;
Have no hope and have no fear,
Waves that rise can never hold;
If they urge or if they cheer,
You remain aloof and cold.

To our sight a lot will glisten,
Many sounds will reach our ear;
Who could take the time to listen
And remember all we hear?
Keep aside from all that patter,
Seek yourself, far from the throng
When with loud and idle clatter
Time goes by, time comes along.

Nor forget the tongue of reason
Or its even scales depress
When the moment, changing season,
Wears the mask of happiness -
It is born of reason's slumber
And may last a wink as true:
For the one who knows its number
All is old and all is new.

Be as to a play, spectator,
As the world unfolds before:
You will know the heart of matter
Should they act two parts or four;
When they cry or tear asunder
From your seat enjoy along
And you'll learn from art to wonder
What is right and what is wrong.

Past and future, ever blending,
Are the twin sides of same page:
New start will begin with ending
When you know to learn from age;
All that was or be tomorrow
We have in the present, too;
But what's vain and futile sorrow
You must think and ask of you;

For the living cannot sever
From the means we've always had:
Now, as years ago, and ever,
Men are happy or are sad:
Other masks, same play repeated;
Diff'rent tongues, same words to hear;
Of your dreams so often cheated,
Have no hope and have no fear.

Hope not when the villains cluster
By success and glory drawn:
Fools with perfect lack of luster
Will outshine Hyperion!
Fear it not, they'll push each other
To reach higher in the fold,
Do not side with them as brother,
Waves that rise can never hold.

Sounds of siren songs call steady
Toward golden nets, astray;
Life attracts you into eddies
To change actors in the play;
Steal aside from crowd and bustle,
Do not look, seem not to hear
From your path, away from hustle,
If they urge or if they cheer;

If they reach for you, go faster,
Hold your tongue when slanders yell;
Your advice they cannot master,
Don't you know their measure well?
Let them talk and let them chatter,
Let all go past, young and old;
Unattached to man or matter,
You remain aloof and cold.

You remain aloof and cold
If they urge or if they cheer;
Waves that rise can never hold,
Have no hope and have no fear;
You must think and ask of you
What is right and what is wrong;
All is old and all is new,
Time goes by, time comes along.