Si daca..

Si daca~ Mihai Eminescu

Si daca ramuri bat în geam
Si se cutremur plopii,
E ca în minte sa te am
Si-ncet sa te apropii.

Si daca stele bat în lac
Adâncu-i luminându-l,
E ca durerea mea s-o-mpac
Inseninându-mi gândul.

Si daca norii desi se duc
De iese-n luciu luna,
E ca aminte sa-mi aduc
De tine-ntotdeuna.

(1883, 13/15 noiembrie)

And If...

And if the branches tap my pane
And the poplars whisper nightly,
It is to make me dream again
I hold you to me tightly.
And if the stars shine on the pond
And light its sombre shoal,
It is to quench my mind's despond
And flood with peace my soul.

And if the clouds their tresses part
And does the moon outblaze,
It is but to remind my heart
I long for you always.

(Translated by Corneliu M. Popescu)

What's in a name? That which we call a rose

Juliet:
"What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet."
Romeo and Juliet (II, ii, 1-2)

Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet meet and fall in love in Shakespeare's lyrical tale of "star-cross'd" lovers. They are doomed from the start as members of two warring families. Here Juliet tells Romeo that a name is an artificial and meaningless convention, and that she loves the person who is called "Montague", not the Montague name and not the Montague family. Romeo, out of his passion for Juliet, rejects his family name and vows, as Juliet asks, to "deny (his) father" and instead be "new baptized" as Juliet's lover. This one short line encapsulates the central struggle and tragedy of the play.