Rosario Virginis Mariae

Sometimes I speak in poetry in two languages. And then I translate it into a third one. It probably doesn’t turn out very well. Something gets lost in the text. The phrases in quotation marks are Latin, taken from a prayer.

«Ora, Maria, ora pro nobis…»¹
«Caelum et terram, et vitam, et mortem»² –
All unfamiliar, and all but erased.
Virgin so pure, «ora pro nobis»³.

Strength and weakness, and torment and gladness,
All I accept once again with submission,
And resurrection, «et vitam aeternam»⁴,
Judgment and mercy, and bitterness, sweetness.

Ave Maria, each word that I utter—
A stone on my heart, like a conscience that’s burdened.
I wish for nothing for me or my own,
Only to call you again and again.

Roses are blooming on feet golden glowing,
Each word I speak is a rose in its meaning.
Thus, do I speak both in verse and in prose…
«Ora pro nobis, o Sancta Maria»

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1.«Ora, Maria, ora pro nobis…» — Pray, Mary, pray for us…

2.«Caelum et terram, et vitam, et mortem» — Heaven and earth, and life, and death.

3.«Ora pro nobis» — Pray for us.

4.«Et vitam aeternam» — And eternal life.