Glossa - English Translation

Written by: Mihai Eminescu
Translated by: Golan

Times are coming, and times are passing,
All is old and all is new,
What is bad and what is good,
Ask yourself and consider.
Do not hope, and do not fear;
What is wave, like a wave shall pass.
Should it urge you, should it call you.
Stay cold to everything.

Many things are passing by,
Many things ring in our hearing.
Who can remember it all,
And who would stick by to listen?
You must sit down beside,
Finding yourself once again
When, while making vain noises
Times are coming, and times are passing.

Neither should you tilt her tongue,
Of the cold balance of reasoning,
Towards the moment that is changing
For the mask of happiness,
That from its death is born,
And that lasts, perhaps, for a moment.
For all those who know it,
All is old and all is new.

A spectator like in a theater
You should imagine yourself in the world.
Should one actor play four characters,
You will still guess his face.
And should he cry, should he fight,
In that corner you should spend with yourself,
To understand from their own art
What is bad and what is good.

The future and the past
Are the paper's two pages.
The beginning is seen in the end
By whoever knows to learn them.
All that was and that will be,
We have it all in the present,
But of all their vanity
Ask yourself and consider.

For to the same means
All that be is subordinated,
And for thousands of years
The world's been glad and sad.
Other masks, the same play;
Other mouths, the same song.
Being deluded so often,
Do not hope, and do not fear.

Do not hope when you see the cowards
Making their way towards victory.
Those morons will surpass you
Though you have a star on your forehead.
Have no fear, for they wil seek
To prostrate amongst each other.
You should not become their friend.
What is wave, like a wave shall pass.

With the song of a siren,
The world is stretching its net for the light.
To change the actors on stage,
It is luring you in its vortex.
You should sneak by the sides.
Don't even pay attention to it
To look out of your way
Should it urge you, should it call you.

Should they touch you, dodge to the sides;
Should they slander, shut your mouth!
What else do you want with your advice
If you already know their measure?
Let all say what they will,
Let all of them pass through the world;
So that you won't be enamoured with anything,
Stay cold to everything.

Stay cold to everything;
Should it urge you, should it call you.
What is wave, like a wave shall pass;
Do not hope, and do not fear.
Ask yourself and consider
What is bad and what is good.
All is old and all is new,
Times are coming, and times are passing.