Poetry in Catalan and Yiddish- Poems Found in Translation

Poems Found in Translation: “Joan Brossa: Time (From Catalan)” plus 2 more

---

• Joan Brossa: Time (From Catalan)
• Abraham Sutzkever: "Who will remain..." (From Yiddish)
• J.V. Foix: My Lord God (From Catalan)

Joan Brossa: Time (From Catalan) Posted: 03 May 2014 06:08 PM PDT Time By Joan Brossa Translated by A.Z. Foreman This line is the present. That line you just read is the past (It fell behind after you read it) The rest of the poem is the future, existing outside your awareness. The words are here, whether you read them or not. And nothing in the world can change that. The Original: El Temps Aquest vers és el present. El vers que heu llegit ja és el passat -ja ha quedat enrera després de la lectura. La resta del poema és el futur, que existeix fora de la vostra percepció. Els mots són aquí, tant si els llegiu com no. I cap poder terrestre no ho pot modificar. There is no supplementary material for this poem.

Abraham Sutzkever: "Who will remain..." (From Yiddish) Posted: 03 May 2014 07:55 AM PDT This is one of Abraham Sutzkever's best-known, most widely-quoted and heavily translated poems. The wide currency is well-earned. It is a poignant reaction to the catastrophic loss, at multiple levels, that befell Ashkenazi civilization in the 20th century (though its relevance is of course not limited to the circumstances of its creation.)  A question I sometimes get asked when I translate a poem which, like this one, been translated competently already numerous times is: why do my own version of this over-englished poem? Aren't there less over-exposed texts to work on? Answer: Probably for the same reason actors still perform Shakespeare's plays on screen and on stage despite the profusion of available predecessors, the same reason musicians still perform symphonies written hundreds of years earlier which have already been performed and recorded hundreds of times. To do it my way.  Last By Abraham Sutzkever Translated by A.Z. Foreman Click to hear me recite the original Yiddish Who will remain? What will remain? There will remain a wind. There will remain the blindness of the dear departed blind. There will remain a single thread of foam: sign of the sea There will remain a little hank of cloud caught on a tree. Who will remain? What will remain? A word's chance will remain Prime mover cultivating grass of Genesis again. There will remain, in honor of itself alone, a rose Understood by seven blades of all the grass that grows. More than all the stars in the expanse from north to here There will remain the star that's fallen in a simple tear. A drop of wine will always be there in the pitcher too. Who will remain? God will remain. Isn't that enough for you? A couple points on the translation itself: A major source of frustration for all translators of this poem including yours truly has been the semantic range of the poem's most crucial word בלײַבן blaybn. Options exploited by translators include "to last", "to stay (behind)", "to endure", "to abide" and "to remain." While the closest semantic match in English would probably not be a single word so much as a whole phrase like "to still be there," I opted for "to remain" for a number of reasons - all of which boiled down to the fact that using a single verb made for a more effective poem overall.  Another point worth mentioning (and one whose neglect in other translations annoyed me) is the word טראַף traf which I render with "word's chance" (after talking myself out of the self-indulgent "wordstroke.") Traf really means "syllable" here, but it can also be used in the sense of "chance, occurrence, luck, stroke." (E.g. oyf traf means "at random", gliklikher traf means "stroke of luck," trafgezets is "law of chance", a trafgevinung would be a victory obtained by sheer dumb luck...etc.) The poem is untitled in the original, but I have taken the deliberate liberty of giving it a title in English which suggested itself to me.  The Original: װער װעט בלײַבן? װאָס װעט בלײַבן? בלײַבן װעט אַ װינט, בלײַבן װעט די בלינדקײט פֿונעם בלינדן, װאָס פֿאַרשװינדט. בלײַבן װעט אַ סימן פֿונעם ים: אַ שנירל שוים, בלײַבן װעט אַ װאָלקנדל פֿאַרטשעפּעט אויף אַ בוים. װער װעט בלײַבן? װאָס װעט בלײַבן? בלײַבן װעט אַ טראַף, בראשיתדיק אַרויסצוגראָזן װידער זײַן באַשאַף. בלײַבן װעט אַ פֿידלרויז לכּבֿוד זיך אַלײן, זיבן גראָזן פֿון די גראָזן װעלן זיך פֿאַרשטײן. מער פֿון אַלע שטערן אַזש פֿון צפֿון ביז אַהער, בלײַבן װעט דער שטערן, װאָס ער פֿאַלט אין סאַמע טרער. שטענדיק װעט אַ טראָפּן װײַן בלײַבן אין זײַן קרוג. װער װעט בלײַבן? גאָט װעט בלײַבן, איז דיר ניט גענוג?

J.V. Foix: My Lord God (From Catalan) Posted: 03 May 2014 07:55 AM PDT Lord God J.V. Foix Translated by A.Z. Foreman Lord God, make my work hard and give me more. Darken the night and keep the landscape sealed. Raise walls against me on a harsher shore, And weave your work on forestland and field. Hands tied and dry as Hindus’, let me see You clad in skins. Cut fissures for your dew Into my mind! I am the Nobody Who yell in tears and yell the name of You. I’ll be a common serf for you, Dear God. Raping the field and gleaning in the sod, My lowly body burdened and diseased, I'm free if in the blackest depths your eye Illumines with its gaze the worlds where I  Take my delight in you, and life is eased. . The Original: Senyor Déu Feu, Senyor Déu, el meu treball més dur, Fosca la nit, i el paisatge més clos, Alceu-me murs en un ribatge cru, Empal'lieu forests, prades i flors. Lligat de mans i sec com un hindú, Vestit de pells, obriu al Vostre ròs La meva ment! Entre tots, só ningú, I Us dic el nom sense repòs, i amb plors. Só el serf comú si així Us plau, Senyor Déu, I en camps forçats o en foradats pregons, Plagat de cos i amb fardells damunt meu, Em sé llibert si en el més negre fons Els Vostres ulls il·luminen els mons Que amb Vós delesc, i em fan el viure lleu.

You are subscribed to email updates from Poems Found in Translation To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610