"...what otherwise quickly vanishes remains
quiet field filled with signs in the snow"
This week, an image of tracks in
melting snow, together with a new
translation of a Dutch late winter/
early spring poem.
February: Tracks, Early Spring Thaw
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"...what otherwise quickly vanishes remains quiet field filled with signs in the snow" This week, an image of tracks in melting snow, together with a new translation of a Dutch late winter/ early spring poem. |
The guest poem for this week is called simply,
Thaw, by the
Dutch poet, J.
Bernlef:
Dooi
De schaatser kris en krassend op het ijs
de trippelsprintjes van een spreeuw:
wat anders wegijlt blijft nu liggen
stil veldje vol tekens in de sneeuw
Een blauwdruk van immens gescharrel
half afgemaakt in weggevlogen taal
zo vormden vlokken dalend onder nul
de grond voor een verhaal dat op het punt
van pointe in dooi uiteenvalt en weer kaal
J. Bernlef
uit Zwijgende Man (1976)Thaw
The skater goes criss-cross across the ice
the triple somersaults of a sparrow
what otherwise quickly vanishes remains
quiet field filled with signs in the snow
A blueprint of great commotion
half completed in language flown away
flakes falling below zero create
the ground of a story that at the point of
climax disintegrates into thaw and is again bare
(tr. Cliff Crego)
from Silent Man (1976)
(1) Sharp Wind, Ski Tracks, Spring Snow
(2) Twenty Snowy Mountains
(3) Rising Sun, Setting Moon
(4) Snow Circles
(5) Ovid and No Trespassing
(6) Mountain Farmer with Six Milk Cows
(7) Red Ribbons in Snow Storm
(8) Two Lights, Fresh Snow
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See also: new |
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"Straight
roads, Slow rivers, Deep clay." |
A collection of contemporary Dutch poetry in English translation, with commentary and photographs by Cliff Crego |
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See also another website by Cliff Crego: The Poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke |
A presentation of 80 of the best poems of Rilke in both German and new English translations: biography, links, posters |