Translated by Romana Iorga
It’s not here, the golden arrow of the sun.
The day’s dusky blades
rustle in the town square—teeth
rarely scrubbed by true rainstorms.
Bookkeepers of misunderstandings
with people—their herd
is decreasing. No one’s left
in the glassy market.
The sawdust of footsteps glides
over the rooftops, where the day’s
roosters have clambered
to sing. This is a happy day
and I stand here, at the source of light, listening.
Somewhere you’ve shown up, in want of nothing.
For you, everything has been said
and what is there to stop the grass from growing?..
Today’s world, yesterday’s world
is sleeping, whispers the wind.
Travelers will arrive soon—
white trees from the harsh garden of the sun.
[Nu e aici săgeata de aur a soarelui]
Nu e aici săgeata de aur a soarelui.
În piața orașului freamătă lamele
crepusculare ale zilei—
dinți spălați rar de ploile adevărului.
Grefieri ai unor neînțelegeri
cu oamenii—turma lor scade.
Pe piața sticloasă n-a mai rămas nimeni.
Un rumeguș al urmelor ei
planează pe acoperișuri,
unde s-au cățărat cocoșii de zi,
pentru a cânta. E veselă ziua asta
și m-am postat aici,
la izvorul luminii, să-i aud.
Undeva te mai arăți tu,
care nu vrei nimic.
Pentru tine toate s-au spus
și ce ar mai opri creșterea ierburilor?..
Lumea de azi, lumea de ieri
doarme, șoptește vântul.
Vor veni degrabă drumeți—
copaci albi din aspra grădină a soarelui.
Published in Cider Press Review, Volume 28, Issue 1.
Originally from Chisinau, Moldova, Romana Iorga is the author of Temporary Skin (Glass Lyre Press, 2024), a woman made entirely of air (dancing girl press, 2025), Auz simplu (Semne Press, 2000), and Poemul sosirii (Glasul Press, 1996). Her work has appeared in The Nation, RHINO, New England Review, and elsewhere. Romana’s new poetry collection, Witness Protection, won the Fall 2025 Black River Chapbook Competition and will come out from Black Lawrence Press in 2027.
Leonard Tuchilatu (November 10, 1951 – November 4, 1975) was a Romanian poet from Moldova, one of the former Soviet Republics. He died of an incurable illness at the age of twenty-four, after being subjected to multiple disciplinary punishments during mandatory army service. He has gathered a following among several generations of Moldovan poets. Many of Tuchilatu’s poems were written in the last few years of his short life and he never got to see his poems in print. Posthumously published collections: Sol / Messenger (1977), Fata Morgana (1989), the anthology Sol. Fata Morgana (1995), Orchestrele dimineții / Morning Orchestras (2021), and the bilingual (Romanian/Russian) collection Rapsodie / Rhapsody (2001).
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