The Scintillating Life of Iulia Hasdeu by Constantin Manolache

Author:Constantin Manolache
Format: epub

Chapter VIII

Petals and Fragrances

Lilica was back among her books, notebooks, exercises, and homework. She felt pulled between the two Maries that she loved equally, her classmate and her childhood friend in the country with orchards and meadows, with birds whose song brought forgotten dreams from childhood. Lilica longingly sent her thoughts to that land. In the weak lamplight, the books were closed, the notebooks were put away, and the poet was writing on a fresh sheet of paper.

Romance for Marie

Marie, have you forgotten

Those charming old days past?

We made oaths to each other,

Our hearts were merged at last.

Our love was true and candid…

For that, I still shed tears!

Like soaring birds to heaven

Joyful and without fears

We ran through our Eden;

And in your long black tresses

I whispered loving nothings,

And adorned them with roses…

Those times are gone forever

Our essence we loved so,

When we were being treasured.

You were glee, heart aglow,

I, in my sad existence

Was charmed by my Marie.

Alas! It was astounding

To love you as I did

Your arms that were surrounding

My figure. Fleeting dream…

Beautiful moments vanish

Leaving me here to weep…⁹

The Marie from far away, whose love she always carried in her heart, but who became estranged because of her new life, was the recipient of the poem À quoi bon? (What’s the Point?) written around the same time, and where accusations are shown in the following verses:

In the end, with extreme sorrow,

With ardor and missing your touch,

I would just tell you that I love you

That you wounded my heart so much;

But what’s the point? You know it well too...¹⁰

The same Marie was the recipient of another poem written by Iulia Hasdeu in the same year, one that was not dated, named Sur un Album (On an Album):

You like my poems, right Marie?

Should I bestow you with more lines?

But what is the point of poetry,

When you know what my heart confines.

The life and the literary work of the fourteen-year-old poet were visible in chronological order, as her verses were honest, displaying the state of her mind, her private thoughts, her sensible progress, but also her pain. That first year, during which the drafts of her poems and stories started to take a definite shape (but, we have to repeat, not a final shape, because she was hiding them from everyone and never thought about publishing them), was marked by love declarations, by her sentimental side, by songs of her poetic nature, but also of deep studies on literary criticism.

That was also the year in which Iulia Hasdeu wrote the comedy Tante et la Nièce (The Aunt and the Niece) published in the volume Théâtre, which was not dated but holds the subject and the approach of that year, or the year before through its simplicity. The plot revolves around a married aunt, the Baroness of Villemont, whose husband left a long time ago and was considered to be deceased, and a dispute between her and the niece she was raising for Germaine, the Count of Almaby. Scene after scene brings the reader to the normal conclusion

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