translate poetry

The goal is to translate 12 poems in 2009. Once I have done this, I will consider this goal to some degree attained. It’s something I love, and seriously neglected among all my other pursuits.

At least this is on the list. Once I have quit caffeine, have the rose garden in and the house organized I can get on to more ethereal pursuits.

I used to do quite a bit of this, but family, work and the infernal distraction of Internet social networking (lol) sites get in the way..

I don’t want to do it anymore. Have no desire, no inspiration and no motivation. I’ll re-open this goal if my attitude changes one day.

I started with The Day the Saucers Came

That day, the saucers landed. Hundreds of them, golden,
Silent, coming down from the sky like great snowflakes,
And the people of Earth stood and stared as they descended,
Waiting, dry-mouthed to find what waited inside for us
And none of us knowing if we would be here tomorrow
But you didn’t notice it because…

AT NORTH FARM

Somewhere someone is traveling furiously toward you,
At incredible speed, traveling day and night,
Through blizzards and desert heat, across torrents, through
narrow passes.
But will he know where to find you,
Recognize you when he sees you,
Give you the thing he has for you?
Hardly anything grows here,
Yet the granaries are bursting with meal,
The sacks of meal piled to the rafters.
The streams run with sweetness, fattening fish;
Birds darken the sky. Is it enough
That the dish of milk is set out at night,
That we think of him sometimes,
Sometimes and always, with mixed feelings?

ФЕРМА НА ПІВНОЧІ

Десь хтось несамовито прямує до тебе,
З нелюдською швидкістю, день і ніч, не маючи спочину.
Під блискавками, крізь спеку пустелі, через стрімкі потоки,
вузькими стежками.
Але чи зможе він тебе знайти,
Чи впізнає тебе, як побачить,
Чи віддасть те, що беріг для тебе?
Тут майже нічого не росте,
Але клуні лускають від харчів,
Мішків навалено аж до стелі,
У річках повно солодкої риби,
Птахи затьмарюють небо. Хіба цього досить -
Подати молоко на вечерю,
І думати про нього час від часу,
Час від часу і увесь час, плутаючись у власних почуттях?

John Ashbery
‘Rain Moving In’

The blackboard is erased in the attic
And the wind turns up the light of the stars,
Sinewy now. Someone will find out, someone will know.
And if somewhere on this great planet
The truth is discovered, a patch of it, dried, glazed by the sun,
It will just hang on, in its own infamy, humility. No one
Will be better for it, but things can’t get any worse.
Just keep playing, mastering as you do the step
Into disorder this one meant. Don’t you see
It’s all we can do? Meanwhile, great fires
Arise, as of haystacks aflame. The dial has been set
And that’s ominous, but all your graciousness in living
Conspires with it, now that this is our home:
A place to be from, and have people ask about.

Наближення

Пошкрябана дошка на горищі
І вітер запалює зорі у небі,
Тепер ясніше сяйво. Хтось зрозуміє, хтось знатиме.
І якщо на цій величезній планеті
Відкриється правда, клаптик її, висохлий, потьмянілий на сонці,
Висітиме у своєму безчесті й покорі.
Ніхто не допоможе, але й гірше вже не може бути.
Просто грай далі, вчися, як зараз, робити крок
До хаосу, якого він прагнув. Хіба не розумієш –
Це все, що ми можемо. Скоро пожежі
Здіймуться, наче скирти у полум’ї. Циферблат вже встановлено,
Грізний, зловісний, і всі радощі твого життя
З ним у змові. Оце і є наш дім,
Звідти ми походимо, і про нього розпитують нас люди.

It’s already something. I’ve translated a song. Or rather written a new one)) Of course it’s much easier to write in a native language, russian or ukrainian, but english appeared not too foreign to me as well))

I agreed to translate a couple of songs from russian and ukrainian into english… they’re not going to pay me a lot, but I want to know if I’m able to do it at all! Besides, I’m supposed to write a term paper on “translating modern poetry”... But I haven’t actually started it.. Maybe translating those songs will give some kind of inspiration.