Poems by Lucian Blaga (1895-1961)
Romania’s great modern poet,
philosopher, and dramatist
Translated by Andrei Codrescu
Ileana Costea assembly
The Poets
Don’t be amazed, Poets, all
poets, are
Just one, undivided, united into
a vast community,
Speaking, they are mute. Across
centuries they are born
And die,
Singing, they serve a tongue lost
In the past.
Sleep
In the mild breeze a soul wavers,
without today,
without yesterday.
With indistinct waves
Rise the hot centuries
From the trees.
In sleep my blood draws me back
Into my parents
Like a wave.
All Ways Cut
Green day. Spirit of the nut.
All ways cut
To the heaven of wind,
Of love, of word.
All ways cut
To the Thursday of fire,
To the noon of desire,
Where passion is burning
Where the tear is singing.
Pax Magna
It appears that God and the Devil
Knowing how much greater each
could be,
Shook hands and made their peace
in me.
Together they distilled into my
soul
Faith, love, doubt, and lies.
The Light
The light I feel
Bursting into my chest when I see
you,
Couldn’t be a drop of that light
Created on the first day,
From that light that thirsted so
much for life?
Longing
Parched, I drink your scent –
I cup your face with my hands
To gather your miracle in my
soul.
The closeness of our eyes burns,
And yet you say: „I yearn for
you!”
With longing as if
I were a wanderer in another
world.
Quatrain
Not even a song is easy. Day
or night – nothing is easy on
earth:
and so the dew, for it’s the
sweat of nightingales,
wearies from singing the whole
night through.
I Will Not Crush the World’s
Corolla of Wonders
I will not crush the world’s
corolla of wonders
And I will not kill
With reason
The mysteries I meet along my way
In flowers, eyes, lips, and
graves.
The light of others
Drowns the deep magic hidden
In the profound darkness.
I increase the world’s enigma
With my light
Much as the moon with its white
beams
Does not diminish but increases
The shimmering mystery of height
–
I enrich the darkening horizon
With chills of the great secret.
All that is hard to know
Becomes a greater riddle
Under my very eyes
Because I love alike
Flowers, lips, eyes, and graves.
All paintings inspired by Blagas
poems
© Jerry W. Mc Daniel 2008
I Wait for My Sunset
I wash my sight in the sky’s
Star-filled vault -
I know that I too in my soul
Carry many, many stars
And galaxies,
Miracles of darkness.
But I do not see them
Because I have
Too much sun in me.
I am waiting for my day to end
I wait for night and pain
I wait for my sky to darken
So that stars may rise in me
My own stars
I have not yet seen.
I Search
I search, for what I don’t know.
I look
For a great hour left
creature-less inside me
Like the stamp of a dead mouth on
a carafe.
I search, for what I don’t know.
Under spent stars,
Under vanished stars, I look
For the extinguished light I
still praise.
Silence
Such silence all about me I seem
to hear
the moon’s beams beat against the
glass.
Oh, who knows – my soul, in whose
breast you’ll sing
sometime after centuries
on sweet strings of silence,
on harps of darkness – that
stifled longing
and broken joy of life? Who knows?
Who knows?
I Want do Dance!
O, I want do dance as I have
never danced!
Let God not feel himself a
prisoner in me.
Earth, give me wings:
I want to be the arrow
tearing infinity,
to see only sky around me,
sky above
and sky below –
burning in waves of light
I want to dance
torn by the lightning of unborn
desire
so God will breathe freely in me
and will not say:
„I am a prisoner in his dungeon!”
Lucian Blaga (1895-1961)
Romania’s great poet,
philosopher, and dramatist
Biography
1895-Born (May 9th) as the ninth
son of the parish priest (Romanian Orthodox Church) of the village of Lâncrâm,
in Transylvania
1910 – 1914 publishes his first
poems and his first philosophical article.
To avoid service in the
Austro-Hungarian army, attends theological classes in Sibiu, Transylvania, graduating in 1917
1918 - begins to study philosophy
at the University of Vienna
1920 - is awarded his Ph. D. with
the thesis Culture and Cognition
1926-38 press counselor - the
Romanian legation in Warsaw, Prague,
Vienna, Bern, Switzerland, Lisbon
1936 elected, at 41 years, active
member of the Romanian Academy
1938 returns to Romania as
Professor of the Philosophy of Culture (a chair specially created for him) at
the University of Cluj, Transylvania
1949 is dismissed from his chair
by the Communist regime and appointed librarian. Out of favor, he publishes
only translations until 1960
1956 - nominated for the Nobel
Prize he was on the point of getting the award when the communist government in
Bucharest sent emissaries to Sweden to protest against his nomination with
false political allegations
1961 - dies of cancer. Buried at
Lâncrâm
Due to the spiritual nature of
his poetic and philosophic work communist leaders banned him.
***
vreau să joc cum niciodată n-am
jucat!
Să nu se simtă Dumnezeu
în mine
un rob în temniţă - încătuşat.
Pământule, dă-mi aripi:
săgeată vreau să fiu să spintec
nemărginirea,
să nu mai văd în preajmă decât
cer,
deasupra, cer,
şi cer sub mine -
ai-aprins în valuri de lumină
să joc
străfulgerat de-avânturi
nemaipomenite
ca să răsufle liber Dumnezeu în
mine,
să nu cârtească:
"Sunt rob în temniţă!"
Tablourile din seria “Vreau să
joc” au fost facute cu ocazia celor patru recitaluri de poezie Blaga organizate
în California de Sud de Ileana Costea cu actriţa bucureşteană Lidia Lazu în Mai
2008.
Resurse Recitaluri Blaga pe
Internet:
Email: jerrywmcdaniel@yahoo.com
JERRY W. McDANIEL, artist
heterogen din New York şi Los Angeles, a studiat cu maeştrii artei abstracte
Angelo Savelli şi Henry Pearson la Noua Scoală de Cercetare în domeniul Social
din New York. Cu această ocazie Jerry a
încetat să mai folosească verticalitatea şevaletului şi işi plasează pânza pe o
suprafţă orizontală. Aceasta permite artistului sa picteze înonjurandu-şi picturile. Stilurile diverse
pe care le aplică artistul în picturile sale sunt dedicate conceptului că
fiecare idee necesită propria-i expresie emotională.
JEJERRY W. McDANIEL New York
& Los Angeles heterogeneous artist, studied with abstract artists Angelo
Savelli and Henry Pearson at the New School for Social Research University in
New York. Out of his experience, Jerry ceased to use the verticality of the
easel and placed his canvas on a horizontal surface. This allowed him to walk
around his paintings. The various styles applied to his paintings are dictated
by the concept that each idea demands its own emotional expression.
The “Vreau Sa Joc” poem by Blaga
as it appears in Romanian on the previous page in English translation:
I want to dance
O, I want do dance
as I have never danced!
Let God not feel himself
a prisoner in me.
Earth, give me wings:
I want to be the arrow tearing
infinity,
to see only sky around me,
sky above
and sky below -
burning in waves of light
I want to dance
torn by the lightning of
unborn desire
so God will breathe freely in me
and will not say: "I am a
prisoner in his dungeon!"
by Lucian Blaga
Translation by Andrei Codrescu
Lucian Blaga (1985-1961)
Lucian Blaga was a commanding
personality of the Romanian culture of the inter-bellum period. He was a
philosopher and writer highly acclaimed for his originality, a university
professor and a diplomat.
In 1926, he became involved in
Romanian diplomacy, occupying successive posts at Romania's legations in
Warsaw, Prague, Lisbon, Bern and Vienna.
He was dismissed from his
university professor chair in 1948 because he refused to express his support to
the new Communist regime and he worked as librarian... He was forbidden to
publish new books, and until 1960 he was allowed to publish only translations.
He completed the translation of Faust, the masterpiece of Goethe, one of the
German writers that influenced him most.
In 1956, Blaga was nominated to
the Nobel Prize for Literature … Still, the Romanian Communist government sent
two emissaries to Sweden to protest the nomination, because Blaga was
considered an idealist philosopher, and his poems were forbidden until 1962
(Excerpts from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucian_Blaga)
***
de Anca Adumitroaie
Albastrul profund si sincer incadreaza ca passe-partout explozia de alb-violet in flori de lavanda care, la rindul ei, imbratiseaza languros conturul banuit al femeii dezgolite. Absenta culorii, ca o pata de vis, intr-o mare dezlantuita de nuante, e ceea ce defineste latura impresionista, de traire a clipei, a pinzei pe nume “Sleeper In Lavender”, care m-a intimpinat si captivat de la intrare la vernisajul cu titlul “I Want To Dance” (“Vreau sa joc”) al pictorului Jerry W. McDaniel. Inspirat, dupa cum marturiseste el insusi, de figuri degasiene drapate in falduri vaporoase, pictorul invaluie forma feminina , ca pe o Danae in ploaia de aur, intr-o contrastanta mantie a pletelor blonde-curgere de grine, intrepatrunse de rebelul mov-siniliu al lavandei.
Am avut placerea de a ma intilni
cu arta pictorului american eterogen Jerry W. McDaniel pe 23 septembrie 2012,
la vernisajul organizat de Societatea Culturala “Viitorul Roman” la Academia de
Arta Klein din Beverly Hills. O duminica extrem de calduroasa si o cladire
micuta si boema, varuita in alb si albastru mediteranean, coborita parca
dintr-o insulita greaca sau italiana, pareau gazdele perfecte pentru un stil de
pictura -arc peste timpuri si tendinte. Influente si emotii armonioase si
conflictuale se imbina nesteptat in arta cu adevarat eterogena a lui McDaniel,
de la Degas la Klimt, Mondrian si Magritte, Picasso si Warhol. Fiecare tablou,
de dimensiuni si forme variate, era insotit de o poveste, fiecare nascindu-se
dintr-o experienta sau traire imortalizate in culoare. “Jazz At The Bakery”,
inspirat de ordinea si culoarea lui Mondrian, pare o sinestezie de muzica si
miscare. M-a intrigat o pictura masiva, de forma patrata, intitulata “This Is
Your Brain”. In legenda insotitoare,
autorul o prezinta ca pe un experiment academic, din perioada sa de profesorat.
Culori vii, de o mare varietate senzoriala, marcheaza acel creier social, al
conventiilor si automatismelor, iar varianta concentrata, “in a nutshell”, ar
fi creierul adinc, Jungian, colectiv, cele doua fiind separate de cimpul alb,
de umbre nedefinite, al constiintei umane.
Chiar daca nu as fi aflat despre
interesul artistic si prietenia pe care Jerry le simte fata de arta si
spiritualitatea romaneasca, versurile lui Lucian Blaga ar fi izbucnit
nestavilite din brate de arbori, tentacule, meandre, albii de riuri, petale
multicolore, care se alearga si se inlantuiesc in seria de sase tablouri incendiare
“Vreau sa joc”:
“vreau sa joc cum niciodata n-am
jucat!
Sa nu simta Dumnezeu
in mine
un rob in temnita-incatusat.
Pamintule, da-mi aripi:
Sageata vreau sa fiu sa spintec
nemarginirea.”
Motivul aripii eliberatoare si al
curgerii navalnice domina in culori arzatoare sau tainice, de vazduh, foc si pamint. La expozitie au
fost prezentate doar patru dintre cele sase tablouri, doua picturi aflindu-se
in prezent intr-o colectie privata din Dusseldorf. Jerry W. McDaniel, prin arta sa eterogena,
distileaza complex si emotional, cu flair si generozitate emotiva, fatete de
cultura romaneasca, precum elemente expresioniste abstracte de la Tuculescu,
ilustratii ale poemelor filozofice ale lui Blaga, sau afise promotionale
moderniste, asemenea celui realizat pentru un turneu al jucatorului de tenis
Ilie Nastase. Cele sase tablouri inspirate de poemul lui Blaga “Vreau sa joc”
fusesera pictate de McDaniel cu ocazia unei serii de recitaluri lirice Lucian
Blaga, organizate de Prof. Ileana Costea in California in 2008.
In acea dupa-amiaza de septembrie
los angelina, in mijlocul unui public entuziast si avizat, doamna Ionela Kloes,
Presedinta a Societatii “Viitorul Roman” si amfitrioana, alaturi de doamna
Ileana Costea, a rostit un succint cuvint de intimpinare din partea societatii
organizatoare, a carei misiune, de la infiintarea din 1926 si pina in zilele
noastre, a fost promovarea cu asiduitate
a valorilor culturale romanesti. A urmat apoi un dialog de o debordanta
onestitate si naturalete, in arta si in viata, dintre Ileana Costea si Jerry W.
McDaniel. Artistul raspundea cu usoara stinjeneala si reala modestie la
intrebarile Ilenei, dezvaluind secrete ale procesului de creatie, precum si
crimpeie revelatoare de viata, care s-au materializat in culoare si emotie pe pinzele
sale. Am aflat astfel povestea din
spatele unui mozaic de sase pinze dreptunghiulare de dimensiuni reduse si
stiluri eterogene, alcatuind o harta in acrilic a periplurilor europene ale
pictorului: nopti in feeria franceza a Craciunului pe Champs Elysées, zori reci
si severe, filtrate in luminile Amsterdamului, nori mov de inspiratie Magritte,
plutind in visare pe cerul din Mallorca, incredibile unghiuri din care Tour
Eiffel domina marea de lumini pariziana, pe care Jerry W. McDaniel o reda cu
entuziasm spontan, asa cum il invaluie de la fereastra atelierului sau din
Montparnasse.
Pe linga privilegiul unui regal
artistic de o mare prospetime si complexitate, publicul a fost intimpinat, in
curtea interioara de influenta si coloristica mediteraneana, de o varietate de
gustari usoare si bauturi racoritoare. Intilnirea s-a incheiat cu neasteptata
surpriza a unei trageri la sorti a doua
tablouri, pe care Jerry, cu multa generozitate, le-a donat “Viitorului Roman”;
in mod paradoxal, luind in considerare istoria mea de o viata, in care nu am
cistigat niciodata nimic la tombole si loterii, tabloul de zbor albastru din
seria “Vreau sa joc” mi-a revenit mie! Ii multumesc din nou lui Jerry pentru
bucuria de a-l admira in fiecare zi, culoarea navalnica readucindu-mi in
amintire poezia atit de draga a lui Blaga, care l-a inspirit pe artist.
Vincent Van Gogh ii scria
fratelui sau Theo ca oricare dintre semenii sai e, de fapt, un pictor de
suflete, si ca menirea fiecaruia e sa
picteze un tablou fericit pe pinza vietii sale. Jerry W. McDaniel, pictor
eterogen de o invigoranta prospetime artistica, abordeaza arta in maniera
emotionala, surprinzind clipele cu atitudinea impresionista a trairii plenare a
momentelor de inspiratie. Iata ca ne-am bucurat din nou, prin initiativa
“Viitorului Roman”, de un veritabil dialog al artelor si stilurilor atit de
variate, de intrepatrundere etnica si istorica, omogene insa in celebrarea
frumusetii.
Anca Adumitroaie, Director
Cultural si Press Secretary, Viitorul Roman Society, California
VIITORUL ROMAN CULTURAL & AID
SOCIETY
A California Not For Profit
Corporation – Founded 1926
***
Diverse Referinte privitoare la
pictorul eterogen american Jerry W. McDaniel:
www.jerrywmcdanielstudios.com -
pagina oficiala a pictorului
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_McDaniel
- pagina Jerry W. McDaniel pe Wikipedia
http://www.strathmoreworldwide.com/profoftheyear_bio.asp?id=307257&industry=Fine+Arts
- pagina lui Jerry ca Artist al
Anului pe Strathmore
http://www.omnigraphies.com/content/jerry-w-mcdaniel-american-heterogenous-artist
Interview by Ileana Costea,
Professor at California State University, Northridge
http://www.omnigraphies.com/content/doua-poluri-geografice-opuse-unite-prin-cultura-si-arta-romania-si-california
Arte intrepatrunzandu-se: poezie,
muzica, aritectura, pictura, sculptura si dans
Articol scris de Ion Lazu, 8
Octombrie 2010, Bucuresti, Romania
http://www.omnigraphies.com/content/dialog-%C3%AEntre-arhitec%C8%9Bi-%C8%99i-arti%C8%99ti-%C8%99i-%C3%AEntre-genera%C8%9Bia-t%C3%A2n%C4%83r%C4%83-%C8%99i-mae%C8%99tri-consacra%C8%9Bi
Dialog între arhitecți și
artiști, și între generația tânără și maeștri consacrați
Expozitie la Bucuresti , Salon
Artis 2010, Octombrie 2010, unde pictorul american Jerry W. McDaniel a fost
unul dintre cei doi invitati de onoare.
***
Afise
Anuntul expozitiei/receptie a
picturilor lui Jerry W. McDaniel, Sept. 23, 2012, Beverly Hills, California
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