Sorescu, Marin: The Case (Pricina Angol nyelven)

Mie mi s-a omorât timpul,
Onorată instanţă.

Când mă întorceam eu voluntar
Din război,
Am băgat de seamă
Că timpului meu îi fuseseră amputate
Inima, gura şi fruntea.

Dar nici aşa nu mi l-au lăsat în pace,
L-au pus să facă zile-chin, zile-lacrimi, zile-maşină, zile-bou,
O mulţime de lucruri
Care nu-l interesau.

Apoi au început să experimenteze pe el
Fel de fel de otravuri -
Tristete, necazuri -
Parca asa le zicea.

Lovitura de gratie i-a fost data in cap
Cu o bucata de destin
De esenta tare.

Iertati-mi expresia,
Dar asta n-a fost viata !
De atunci, iata, am pierdut si jumatate din moarte
Asteptandu-mi randul la coada,
Ca sa v-aduc la cunostinta pricina mea,
Aici,
La judecata de apoi.

Your Honour,
As I was returning home,
From the War, as a volunteer,
They killed my Time.
Then I noticed, the Time being amputated
Of its heart, mouth and forehead.
Still, they will not leave it in peace.
So they condemned it to further painyears, tearyears, Robotyears, donkeyyears
And a host of other things
Of no value to it.
They started turned it into a guinea pig
Testing all kinds of poisons
Like sadness and misfortune
Or such like names.
The fatal blow came when it was hit on the head
With a piece of hardwood destiny.
Pardon the expression, Your Honour,
This was no life!
Since then I have even forfeited half of death
Waiting for my turn in the queue
To make my case to Your Honour,
Here,
At the Last Judgement.