When I was a child,
the Earth seemed to me the greatest thing.
My uncle Adam thought
he could remain forever young.
“The secret is” he said
dropping his fingers on my forehead,
“not to lose the current day.”
And he daily ran over twenty thousand miles
against the rotation of our planet,
not to be caught with the night.
Every noon I saw him
scampering like a flying horse besides our house.
“You are so big now.
Soon you will be older than I am!”
he shouted and disappeared over the horizon,
in order to reappear from the opposite direction
after about twenty-four hours,
when the sun suggests the midday.
But even so, time did not forgive him.
“I have played my chance,”
said uncle Adam before dying,
“tomorrow has never existed for me.
I have lived only one day,
but time has mercilessly hit me.
I am terribly confused.
Should I understand that on Earth
time is not measured in days and nights?”
ROMANIAN ORIGINAL VERSION
ASTROPOEMUL UNUI OM ATEMPORAL
Eram copil si Pamantul mi se parea
cel mai mare lucru posibil.
Unchiul Adam credea ca se poate
sa nu imbatranesti niciodata.
-Secretul este -
spunea picurandu-mi degetele-i groase pe frunte -
sa nu lasi ziua in care te afli sa-ti scape.
Si alerga zilnic peste douazeci de mii de mile
impotriva rotatiei planetei,
astfel ca noaptea sa nu il inveleasca.
In fiecare zi il vedeam
zburdand ca un pegas pe langa casa noastra.
-Ce mare te-ai facut,
in curand o sa devii mai batran ca mine! -
striga si apoi disparea in zare
spre a reveni din directia opusa
peste vreo douazecisipatru de ore,
cam pe la vremea cand soarele sugereaza amiaza.
Dar timpul nu l-a iertat nici pe el.
-Mi-am jucat sansa -
mi-a marturisit unchiul Adam inainte sa moara.
Pentru mine n-a existat maiine.
Am trait o singura zi,
dar timpul tot m-a tamponat.
Nu inteleg cum vine asta.
Inseamna ca pe Pamant
timpul nu se masoara in zile si nopti?
***
© 2008 SARM
(Romanian Society for Meteors and Astronomy)