I always saw, I always said
If I were grown and free,
I'd have a gown of reddest red
As fine as you could see,
To wear out walking, sleek and slow,
Upon a Summer day,
And there'd be one to see me so
And flip the world away.
And he would be a gallant one,
With stars behind his eyes,
And hair like metal in the sun,
And lips too warm for lies.
I always saw us, gay and good,
High honored in the town.
Now I am grown to womanhood....
I have the silly gown.
Dorothy Parker
.............................................................
Rochia rosie
Mereu visai, mereu am zis
Pe cand voi fi crescut
O rochie de-un rosu-aprins
Sa am mi-ar fi placut.
S-o port mergand cu pasi usori,
Pe-o dulce zi de vara,
Si unul dintre trecatori
M-ar lua din lume-afara.
Si el ar fi un cavaler,
Cu ochi de stele ardente,
Si parul de-un lucind mister,
Si buze inocente.
Si ne-am vazut pe noi mereu,
Tu-respectatibil, eu-gentila.
Acumfemeie sunt si eu...
Am rochia inutila.
Romanian version
Maria Magdalena Biela
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
I like the photo better than the poem. The photo gives us the dress in is elegant style in a natural setting of shrubbery whose green parallels the red of the dress. The poem, however, debunks the very dream of elegance it set up. I don't know if Dorothy Parker is a latter-day Ecclesiastes railing against the vanity of possessions or a woman so soused with alcoholism she could find nothing of value in a world bursting with beauty. When she had to choose between alcohol and her writing career, she chose alcohol. Sic. The photo deserves its own poem.