Monday, June 28, 2010

Holland 2-1 Slovakia

Nachoem M. Wijnberg (1961- ; trans. David Colmer)



Morning and Evening Song

It is silent above my head,
below my feet,
the dark’s not cold, the light’s not warm;
when morning or evening comes running up
it’s to bring me something to read.

A book I want to keep
or take with me when I travel;
on the first page
I stopped reading three times
and each time I could have stopped longer.

I suddenly dare to say
I want you;
if you suddenly don’t want to any more
I have to accept it,
like when morning or evening don’t want to any more.

What you gave me,
not starting today
with what was taken from me
or abandoned by me
and is now spread over mornings and evenings.

When I was a child
I lived in a house
I still have the key to
because I had to hold it in my hand
in the morning when we left to travel until it was evening.


Andrej Sladkovic (1820-1872)



Marína (extract)

1
.
Ja sladké túžby, túžby po kráse
spievam peknotou nadšený,
a v tomto duše mojej ohlase
svet môj je celý zavrený;
z výsosti Tatier ona mi svieti,
ona mi z ohňov nebeských letí,
ona mi svety pohýna;
ona mi kýva zo sto životov:
No centrom, živlom, nebom, jednotou
krás mojich moja Marína!
.
2
.
Ako vy, Tatry, keď oblak zlatý
na hory svoje hodíte:
tak ona duchom svojím mi šatí
tône života úsvite.
Ako vy tamhor', božie plamene,
svetiel ste žriedla, fakle, korene:
ona blesk myšlienky mojej! -
Ako vy, večné svetov zákony,
harmónij božích čarovné tóny:
tak tá mne os, zenit, kolej!
.
3
.
Jestli sa city moje rozlejú
po srdciach v Tatrách žijúcich;
jestli ohlasy moje zavejú
kradmo do časov budúcich:
rodáci mojej duše, krajiny!
objímte obraz mojej Maríny
ľúbosťou svätých predmetov;
toho, čo spieva krásy dejiny,
nejali Lady rozmaríny,
on ľúbi ľúbosť všesvetov.

4 comments:

Selorm said...

Hello James, I did know any other way of speaking to you but the poem in this post is not complete, i have the complete version, would be glad to give it to you.
Selorm

James Womack said...

Hello Selorm,

Thanks for writing. You're right: the second poem is an extract from a much longer poem: I got it from this site, if I remember correctly. But, as the original has more than 200 verses, I thought that an extract was a good way to go.

If you meant that the first poem was incomplete, then I should say that it's presented as being a complete poem on the poetryinternational website, which is where I got it from.

Best wishes,

James.

James Womack said...

Oh, I think I may have been confused. If you are Agbleze Selorm from Ghana, then I posted a poem by you in another post, which might have been what you were referring to.

If that's right, then please, send me the full version, and thank you very much for passing by the site.

Best wishes,

James.

Selorm said...

Hello James,

You are welcome,it was to my pleasure visiting your site.

However, the formatting of the commenting space does not permit me to paste the poem in the format it should appear, I could send it through an email if you please. However the full poem is also available at oneghanaonevoice.com

All the very best.