PERPETUUM MOBILE	PERPETUUM MOBILE
Marin Sorescu	tr. Michael Hamburger
Lui Prometeu i se lăsase dreptul de replică, totuşi. Dar cum sta aşa răstignit pe stnca aceea Nemişcat ci doar sfrtecat lăuntric, Singura replică pe care-o spunea era aceasta: - De ce ficatul?	At least Prometheus still had the right to object. But what if, fixed to the rock there, unable to stir and inwardly minced, what he managed to say was only: 'Why the liver, of all things?'
Desigur cea mai simplă Şi cea mai banală replică, n aparenţă: -- De ce ficatul? Avea n cap o intreagă piesă Despre valoarea focului Şi demnitătii nemaipomenite a gestului de titanică răzvrătire, O piesă foarte nchegată şi care şi artistic se ţinea bine, Pe care voia să i-o urle sfidător lui Zeus Dar se pomenea rostind doar att: - De ce ficatul?	Yes indeed, the simplest and seemingly tritest objection: 'Why the liver, of all things?' Through his head a whole drama passed, about the value of fire and the incomparable dignity of Titanic revolt. A play coherent enough, and not bad artistically, that he wanted to roar at Zeus with contempt. But what he came out with was only: 'Why the liver, of all things?'
In stnga lui nfometat, vulturul e foarte drz, Ştie să-şi facă meseria, e călău pe faţă, Are un cioc ca un excavator Care nfigndu-se face să bubuie munţii, De aceste cuvinte aproape onomtopeice: - De-aia!	The vulture on his right is insatiable. It knows its hangman's job, and does it openly. Its beak, an excavator, digs in, so that the mountains quite onomatopoeically echo: 'That's why! That's why!'
Acesta este şi nu este un răspuns La mistuitoarea intrebare a eroului, Care, uitat de lume in acele pustiuri stncoase din Caucaz, Incă mai răguşeşte zările uznd de dreptul său sfint de replică: - De ce ficatul?	This is and is not an answer to the question that eats the hero who, remote and forgotten by the world in the stony deserts of the Caucasus, still asserts his right to object, so that the vast empty spaces have grown hoarse with echoing: 'Why the liver, of all things?'

Trans. Copyright © Michael Hamburger 1983, 1993 - publ. Bloodaxe Books

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