From what I hear, writers are not very fond of translating their own work. I can understand that with large novels (who wants to write in excess of 200 pages all over again? The impulse to re-write rather than translate would be overwhelming.) Poetry, however, seems to be more amenable to being translated by the author. Or so I think, after I played a little with this little nothing poem I wrote...mmm...a while ago. Not grand poetry by any and all measure, but on the plus side--it was kinda translatable. Well, it wasn't very complicated or particularly deep, either, so that helped. I wrote it in English in the original--and just wanted to see how it feels to translate your own work.
Not half as bad as I thought! There are some linguistic treasons, which this time I felt fully entitled to undertake. It's my damn poem, after all!
Just one small observation: I used a Romanian rhyme dictionary and was taken aback at the multitude of rhymes I could find for one word. I never realized, I guess, that Romanian was so full of rhymes! By comparison, English seems to be much tougher, rhyme-wise. My preliminary hypothesis is that's due to the multitude of inflections, which creates ample opportunities for similar endings (think gender, declension, number, conjugation, you name it). I'll have to look into it.
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I want to love your every nook and cranny I want to giggle with you when I caress your arms
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Vreau să-ţi iubesc oricare şi orişice crevasă, Vreau să îţi gâdil braţul cu dulci atingeri blânde Şi vreau să simt iar gustul de pâine şi de rouă |