reprieve
Two poems, both translations, unrelated to both myself and to eachother, deserving of being read. Read the first one outloud. It's nice. It sounds like quiet. Impressive for a translation, I think.
To Be Said While Falling Asleep
I want to sing-in someone,
sit by someone and just be.
I want to rock you and sing you small
and accompany you sleep-in and sleep-out
I want to be the only one in the house,
who would know: the night was cold.
And I want to listen in and out
into you, the world, into the woods.
The chiming clocks call out to each other,
and you get at the bottom of time.
And down there walks a strange man
and disturbs a strange dog.
Beyond silence falls. Keenly
I have laid my eyes upon you;
and they are holding you gently and let you go,
when something moves in the dark.
- R.M. Rilke, 14th November 1900, Berlin-Schmargendorf, translated from the German by Philipp Kellmeyer
In the Battle
I remember Sulayma
when the ardor of the battle
was like that of my body
when I left her.
I saw her slim waist
among the lances
and when they leaned toward me
I embraced them.
- Abu l-Hasan Ibn Al-Qabturnuh (12th century, Babajoz), translated by Cola Franzen
To Be Said While Falling Asleep
I want to sing-in someone,
sit by someone and just be.
I want to rock you and sing you small
and accompany you sleep-in and sleep-out
I want to be the only one in the house,
who would know: the night was cold.
And I want to listen in and out
into you, the world, into the woods.
The chiming clocks call out to each other,
and you get at the bottom of time.
And down there walks a strange man
and disturbs a strange dog.
Beyond silence falls. Keenly
I have laid my eyes upon you;
and they are holding you gently and let you go,
when something moves in the dark.
- R.M. Rilke, 14th November 1900, Berlin-Schmargendorf, translated from the German by Philipp Kellmeyer
In the Battle
I remember Sulayma
when the ardor of the battle
was like that of my body
when I left her.
I saw her slim waist
among the lances
and when they leaned toward me
I embraced them.
- Abu l-Hasan Ibn Al-Qabturnuh (12th century, Babajoz), translated by Cola Franzen