Words can’t accurately describe how much I love this poem, and it’s accuracy & application in today’s insane world, despite being published in aprox. 1930

Disclaimer: Profound symbolist influence, as mr. George Bacovia was a pure symbolist poet at the beginning of his journey.

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Eu trebuie să beau, să uit ceea ce nu stie nimeni

Ascuns în pivnita adânca, fără a spune un cuvânt

Singur să fumez acolo neștiut de nimeni

Altfel, e greu pe pământ…

Pe stradă urle viața, si moartea

Și plângă poetii poema lor vana…

Știu…

Dar foamea grozavă nu-i glumă, nu-i vis –

Plumb, si furtună, si pustiu,

Finis…

Istoria contemporană…

E timpul… toți nervii te vor…

O, vino odată, măreț viitor.

Eu trebuie să plec, să uit ceea ce nu știe nimeni

Mâhnit de crimele burgheze, fără a spune un cuvânt

Singur să mă pierd în lume neștiut de nimeni

Altfel, e greu pe pământ…

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I must drink, to forget what no-one knows

Hidden in the deep basement, without saying a word

Alone, to smoke there, unnoticed by anyone

Otherwise, life’s hard on Earth…

On the streets screams life, and death too…

And poets howl for their poems in vain…

I know…

But the great hunger isn’t a joke, nor a dream —

Plight, and storm, and desert

Finis…

Contemporary history…

Is time itself… All my nerves give me pain…

Oh, come at last, great future.

I must to leave, to forget what no-one knows

Haunted by the crimes of the bourgeoisie, without saying a word

Alone, to fade within this world, unknown to all

Otherwise, life’s hard on Earth…

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Translation by me, with the help of a fellow translator for difficult idioms.