The Evening Star Poem by Peter Mamara

by M. Eminescu (1850-1889)

Once upon a time, like in any fairy story,
There was a beautiful princess
Like there never was.
She belonged to an imperial dynasty.

She was her parents' only child.
And she was great at all she did.
She was like the moon, surrounded by the stars,
And like the Virgin is among the saints.

She aims her steps to the window
— From the wonderful shadows of hollow.
The evening star is in a corner.
There it waits for her.

She watches in the distance, how on seas
It rises and shines,
And how on moving sea routes
Dark ships it guides.

She sees it one day, and the next,
So her wish crops up.
And watching for weeks
It falls in love with the princess.

The moment she leans
Her dreaming temples on her elbows,
Her heart and her soul fill up
— With desire for the Evening Star.

And how bright it stands out
On each night…
When, she will come to it at once
— Towards the shadow of the dark palace.

So, following slowly her footsteps
With its cold glow,
It drifts into her quarters.
Entwining a net of passions.

And when the young princess in red
Going to sleep, she stretches straight in bed.
It touches her bosom.
And it closes her cute eyelids.

And over her body it glowed,
Over her big eyes that throb closed,
It glowed from the mirror
Over her different from everyday looks.

She gazes at it with smiles.
It shudders in the mirror.
Because it clings to her heart,
It follows her in deep sleep, in hot pursuit.

And she chats to it in her sleep.
She sighs a lot, drawing her breath.
Oh, my sweet master of the night
Why don't you come? Come!

Come down, gentle evening star,
Slide on a ray this hour.
And reach inside my house, and into my mind.
Light up my life.

Flickering, it listened to her
And shone even brighter.
And it jumped in with lightning velocity.
It dipped into the sea.

And the sea whirls around,
Where it had dived.
And from depths unheard of,
Come out a handsome young man.

Weightlessly, over the window's rim
He crosses like through a door.
He holds a sceptre in his hand.
And he is crowned with reeds.

He seemed to be a young heir of an emperor
— With his soft golden hair.
His fine purple toga is skin-tight with a knot.
He wears it on his bare shoulders.

He is a handsome and quiet young man,
— With lively eyes that shine.
And the contour of his fine face,
It's white like wax.

Red fires in the air,
Stretch over the whole sphere.
And it moulds a handsome face
Out of valleys of chaos

Floating he came, in person.
Bathed in the fire of the sun,
His crown looks as it is on fire
— On his long blond hair.

He draws out his white like marble hands
From black fine clothes;
He comes sad, and deep in thought.
And he's pale in the face.

Although If truth were told,
His big and wonderful eyes
Twinkle like rays.
And are full of hesitation
— Like his insatiable passion.

'From my world I hardy came
So, I can listen to you this time.
And the Sun is my father.
And the Moon is my mother.

Oh, come my precious, incredible being
And leave your world for a wedding ring.
I am the Evening Star.
And you shall be my bride.

Oh, come. I shall hang wreaths of stars
— In your blond tresses.
You shall come into my world
And shine better than them.'

'Oh, like only in a trance
A demon shows his face,
You are so good-looking.
But the road you open for me,
I shall in no way follow it.

Because the strings of my heart
Are hurt by your cruel love.
And ache my big and dark eyes.
You burn me with your gaze.'

'You want me to come down.
Don't you see
That I'm eternal
And you are a mortal? '

' I don't know how I shall commence.
I don't look for a choice of words.
Even though you talk sense
I can't understand you at all.

But if you want me
To fall in love with you…
Then come down on Earth
And be mortal like I am.'

'You ask for my eternal days
In exchange for a kiss?
But I want you to know,
How much I love you.

Yes, accepting another law,
I shall be born from sin.
I'm linked with the eternal time.
And I want out of this.'

And because of the love for her
He left… he left for a while.
He finished with his place in the skies
And he was gone for many days.

For the time being, Catalin
— A cunning teenager butler —
Fills the cups with wine
— To guests at the table.

A butler, who carries the train of the empress' dress,
Although he is bold with his eye,
He was born out of wedlock.
He was dumped as a child.

Like two peonies— bless them—
Seem his small rosy cheeks.
Searching, he sneak in,
And at Catalina he stares.

And how beautiful and great
She became.
Eh Catalin, Now is the time
— To try your luck.

He gently hugged her
— In the blink of an eye, in a room's corner.
'But what do you want Catalin?
Go and leave me alone! '

'What I want?
I don't want you to be always lost in thought.
You better be happy.
And give me a kiss — one only'.

'I don't even know what you ask me.
Let me be and go away.
Oh, for the heavenly Evening Star
A dying feeling hits me, a strong desire.'

'If you don't know love's procedures,
I shall show them to you, slowly.
Only don't get angry
And act in a decent way.

How the hunter in the woods,
Lays traps for birds,
When, I shall reach my left arm to you
You should hug me.

And your eye should stand still.
And you should gaze endlessly in my eye.
If I should lift you from your underarm
You should rise from your heels.

When my face bends down
Stay put with your face up.
We should look intently at each other,
— Sweetly and passionately, all our life.

And so, love's procedures,
It shall be fully known to you.
And when I bend to kiss you,
You shall kiss me too'.

Surprised and absent-minded,
She listened to the young man.
And timidly and gracefully
She almost said no, she almost agreed.

And she softly said to him:
'I've known you since you were young
You were chatty and two-faced.
You may be a match for me…'

But a star rises
— From the calm that is far.
It gives a very high coat of arms
— To the expanse of the seas.

And I shut secretly my eyelid,
As weeping had filled it.
When I journey towards him,
Toss the waves of the sea.

He twinkles with an untold love,
So he can keep at bay my grief.
But he climbs up higher and higher,
So, I can't reach him.

He gets in with his cold rays,
From the world that sets him apart…
I shall love him on and on,
And he shall keep away from me…

Because of that,
My days are empty like the grassland.
Only the nights have a deep allure
That I can't tell any longer

'You are young, that is to say…
Come with me. Let's run away.
Most likely, they will lose our tracks.
And they won't know who we are.

The two of us shall be dutiful.
We shall be in good health and cheerful.
Your yen for mum and dad,
Your dreams about stars, you shall let go.'

The evening star starts his journey.
His wings widen in the sky.
And thousands of light-years in distance,
He flies in the same number of seconds.

A sky full of stars is below him.
Above him is a sky of stars.
He looks like a steady thunderbolt,
While, he drifts throughout the sky.

And from the valleys of the abyss
He sees how lights emerge
All the way around,
Like it was on his life's first day.

Lights rise until he is out of view.
Lights surround him like a sea.
Forced by desire he flies with a whim
Like going for a swim.

And where he reaches, there isn't a boundary.
Nor is there an eye to see.
And time tries without success
To be born from the abyss.

There is nothing. Then again,
There is a draft that sucks him in.
Like the hidden thoughts,
There is a depth.

'Heavenly Father, please, set me free,
— From the burden of sad eternity.
And on the world's chain of command,
You shall forever be praised.

Oh God, ask me whatever You want,
But give me a new fate.
Since giver of demise
You are also the life's source.

Please take back from me the halo of eternity.
And from my gaze take out the blaze.
And in exchange for all,
Let me enjoy an hour of love.

Oh God, from the abyss I came.
And I shall go back into the abyss…
I was born from breathing space.
I have a thirst for a break.'

'Hyperion, out of the abyss
You rise with a whole deep space.
Don't ask in vain
—For unnamed miracles, or a sign.

You want to consider yourself a man?
You want to be like them?
Even if all mankind would perish,
Men shall be born again.

They build
— Only proud ideals in the wind.
When waves reach a crypt,
Waves come behind it.

They have only lucky stars
— And the fate's troubles.
We have neither time nor place.
And we don't know demise.

Out of the essence of the eternal yesterday,
Today draws its span and ends with a ray.
If a star may shut down in heavens,
A new star shall burst into flames.

They are seemingly born to live forever,
But death follows behind them like a phantom.
Because all are born to die
And die to be born.

But you Hyperion, you stay put
Anywhere you may set…
Ask Me for My first word.
Shall I give you good judgment?

You want Me to chant with My lips?
And shall mountains
Follow with their forests after My hymn?
And shall the islands enter the seas?

You want Me to show in deeds
— Might and righteousness.
I would give you the Earth.
To make from it an empire, piece by piece.

I give you ship's mast next to ship's mast.
Armies so you can browse the land's extent.
Or the sea's expanse across;
But death… it is not in the cards…

And for whom you want to die?
Turn around quickly
And look to that mad world,
And see what lie ahead'.

Hyperion turned back to its position
— In its assigned place in heaven.
And it sheds its brightness
Like yesterday and always.

Since it was evening at sunset,
And the night was about to start.
The moon quietly rises
Flickering, out of the waters.

And it fills the trails
— In the woods with its sparks.
Two young people sat down,
— Beneath a long row of wonderful trees.

'My love, oh, let my head nod off
On your bosoms,
Beneath the indescribably
— Sweet gaze of yours.

Rove through my thought
— With the magic effect of your cold light.
And unleash everlasting peace,
Into the night that is full of passions.

And stay put above me,
So, you can put an end to my misery.
Because you are my first love
And my last dream.'

From the sky, Hyperion could see
— The surprise on their faces.
No sooner Catalin put an arm around her neck,
She hugs him in her arms…

Silvery flowers exude scent
And fall like a sweet shower
On the heads of the two youngsters
— With long and blond hair.

She raises her gaze, being drunk of love,
And she sees the evening star.
She entrusts it
— With her desire.

'Come down, you gentle evening star,
Sliding on a ray,
Go into my mind and over the woods,
And shed light on my luck'

It flickers over the forests and on hills,
Like it always does.
The solitude of the moving waves
It guides.

But like in the past, from all these heights,
It doesn't jump into the sea.
'What it's to you, you shape of clay
If shall be I or some other guy?

Living in your narrow world
Fate follows you around.
Whereas on my orbit, I hold
That I am eternal and cold.'
(1883, April)

Translated by