"The Ghosts"

The poem below by Romanian poet George Bacovia (1881 - 1957) makes me feel odd, in a very cool way. It's not exactly the narrative. Not even the eerie pathos. I think it must be the unusual fading image near daybreak, of those lanterns "in chaos lost." Something about it reminds me of old Japanese ghost tales.



The Ghosts

With red lanterns, yellow, green
The ghosts pass at night over fields of grain
And the dogs bark on in the night at the fields -
The ghosts have entered the loft of an inn,
And the loft is seen to be queerly lit
By red lanterns, yellow, green.

The ghosts have returned to the loft to retrieve
Pledges left long ago in their lives ...
So goes a story that now I've forgotten
That at night, in the inn, there appear silhouettes
With red lanterns, yellow, green.

But when the cock crows toward daybreak, a pack
Of ghosts tumbles suddenly out of the loft,
And across the fields, and in chaos is lost
Red, yellow and green.



Strigoii

Cu rosii fanare, galbene, verzi
Trec noaptea strigoii prin lanuri de grau
Si cainii spre lanuri in noapte tot bat
Stigoii la crasma in pod au intrat,
Si podul se vede bizar luminat
De rosii fanare, galbene, verzi.

Strigoii, din pod, isi iau inapoi,
Lasate din viata, demult, amanete ...
Asa spune basmul ce azi l-am uitat
Ca noaptea, la crasma apar siluete
Cu rosii fanare, galbene, verzi.

Dar cand despre ziua cocosu-a cantat,
Cad buzna din pod gramezi de strigoi
Si-n hau, peste lanuri, strigoii se pierd
Rosii, galbeni si verzi.