Here are the long overdue translations of Paul Celan's Romanian poems (one poem dated 1947) by a great poet, Nina Cassian: they contain the buds, bloom, and deathly flowering of the obsessions found in all of Celan's work--death, drowning, deportation, love, pride, loneliness, the magic of language. The book also includes important essays by Nina Cassian, on Celan's early life and work, and post-WWII Bucharest and Paris. Letter from Paul Celan to Nina Cassian, 1947 "Ingrate! . Seeing yourself simultaneously in the double posture of sleeping bird and fountain pen.the foul mouths of Prosperity will never be able to say we did not love each other. Let the sea come over us and let our brother-sharks gobble us up! [signed] Paul (more African than ever).".