If you don’t know who Mihai Eminescu is, Wikipedia will tell you (almost) all about him. Too keep it short, I can tell you this: he is Romania’s greatest and my favorite poet. On January 15th (the day he was born) every year, we celebrate his work and contribution to our linguistic legacy. From all the literature I studied during school and high-school, only one poem stuck to my mind. It is a short and sweet Eminescu poem about love. Maybe that’s why I still remember it. :D The poem is called “And if …” and I’ve found a pretty good translation for it (courtesy of romanianvoice.com). If you have a girlfriend or boyfriend which can read in Romanian, dedicate her/him this poem, in its original form, on Dragobete (our very own Valentine's Day) and she\he’ll look at you in a whole new perspective. O:-) (more…)