Other languages poetry

[Arebeth]

I've just discover the "Tower of Babel" thread, in Tolkienology And I realised that all the poetic stuff here is in English. I love English, but don't you think it would be great for people who speak another language to post their favourite poems or texts or lyrics or something and then try to translate them (doesn't matter if the translation isn't excellent, I find it difficult too!). Just a first one:

Le point noir (Gérard de Nerval)

Quiconque a regardé le Soleil fixement
Croit voir devant ses yeux voler obstinément
Autour de lui, dans l'air, une tache livide.

Ainsi, tout jeune encore et plus audacieux,
Sur la gloire un instant j'osai fixer les yeux:
Un point noir est resté dans mon regard avide.

Depuis, mêlée à tout comme un signe de deuil,
Partout, sur quelque endroit que s'arrête mon oeil,
Je le vois se poser aussi, la tache noire!-

Quoi, toujours? Entre moi sans cesse et le bonheur!
Oh, c'est que l'aigle seul -malheur à nous, malheur!-
Contemple impunément le Soleil et la Gloire.

(Now I'll try to translate it...)

[Arebeth]

The black spot.

Anybody who stared at the Sun
Can see in front of his eyes, flying
Around him, a pale stain.

When I was young and more daring
I stared at the glory
Ever since a black stop remains in my look.

In everything like a mourning sign,
Everywhere, in anything I look at,
I see the black spot!

What? Always? Always between me and happiness?
It's for only the eagle -misfortune on us, misfortune!-
can see the Sun and the Glory without being punished.

(I did my best.)

[Eriol]

Great idea :).

I'd love to talk about poetry; I like to read it a lot. But most of the poetry I've read, and the best, is in Portuguese (not surprisingly). Let me give it a try, with the sonnet which is engraved in my heart:

Soneto do Amor Total (Vinicius de Moraes)

De tudo ao meu amor serei atento
Antes, e com tal zelo, e sempre, e tanto
Que mesmo em face do maiot encanto
Dele se encante mais meu pensamento

Quero vivê-lo em cada vão momento
E em seu louvor hei de cantar meu canto
E rir meu riso, e derramar meu pranto
Ao seu pesar ou seu contentamento

E assim quando mais tarde me procure
Quem sabe a morte, angústia de quem vive
Quem sabe a solidão, fim de quem ama

Eu possa me dizer to amor que tive
Que não seja imortal, posto que é chama
Mas que seja infinito enquanto dure.


Translation:

Sonnet of Total Love

I shall be engrossed in my love
Before aught else, and always, and so much
That even facing the greatest bliss
To it my thought will remain closer

I want to live it in every fickle moment
And in its praise I shall raise my singing
And laugh my laughter, and pour my crying
To follow its sadness or its contentment

And so, when later it approaches me
Perhaps death, anguish of the living
Perhaps loneliness, end of the lovers

I may tell myself about the love I had
May it not be immortal, since it is flame
But may it be infinite while it lasts.

Next, some poetry from Fernando Pessoa.

:)

[Zale]

French is such a great language for abstract poetry... I'll try to find a decent example, but not having access to huge amounts of French material it might take me a while.

[Eriol]

MAR PORTUGUÊS (Fernando Pessoa)

Ó mar salgado, quanto do teu sal
São lágrimas de Portugal!
Por te cruzarmos, quantas mães choraram,
Quantos filhos em vão rezaram!
Quantas noivas ficaram por casar
Para que fosses nosso, ó mar!

Valeu a pena? Tudo vale a pena
Se a alma não é pequena.
Quem quer passar além do Bojador
Tem que passar além da dor.
Deus ao mar o perigo e o abismo deu,
Mas nele é que espelhou o céu.

PORTUGUESE SEA

O salty sea, how much of your salt
Are tears from Portugal!
For our crossings, how many mothers wept,
How many prayers in vain were said!
How many maidens unwed remained
So that you would become ours, o sea!

Was it worth it? Everything is worth it
If there is no pettiness in the soul.
Those who wish to go beyond the Bojador
Much farther than the pain must go.
To the sea God gave the peril and the abyss
But it was there that He mirrored Bliss.

***

Gosh, how it is hard to produce an awful translation of these poems! This is a very famous poem. The line, "Tudo vale a pena se a alma não é pequena" -- "Everything is worth it if there is not pettiness in the soul" (yuck at my translation) is known by millions of people who don't realize where it came from.

It evokes the great Portuguese seafaring adventure in the 15th and 16th centuries. It moves me a lot. The "Bojador" was 'the point of no return' for mariners at that time, the point at which people believed they could not come back.

Ok, I'll shut up now and think about the poem.

[Ledreanne313]

I made one of these threads long- ago...yet it was poetry in Elvish:)