Summer
At evening the complaint of the cuckoo
Grows still in the wood.
The grain bends its head deeper,
The red poppy.
Darkening thunder drives
Over the hill.
The old song of the cricket
Dies in the field.
The leaves of the chestnut tree
Stir no more.
Your clothes rustle
On the winding stair.
The candle gleams silently
In the dark room;
A silver hand
Puts the light out;
Windless, starless night.
---Georg Trakl (+ 1914 )
trans. Robert Bly
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3 comments:
"Verano" may translate to "summer" for...gringos, but in southern mexico and CA "verano" means the dry season--winter, really.
The word comes from latin--"ver" also seen in "primavera"....spring, or "first green" (verde = green, grun in saxonic), but...derives from ancient sanskrit source (those who find latin--or hellenic challenging should attempt... devanjari).
(Interesting poetics)
thanks for the word run down
j
i dig etymology
devanjari = summer
?
jh
Heh.
No.
devanagari: the main indian script they use for sanskrit-ish now. But the spanish/latinate word for "summer", or dry season, really ie "verano"/ver derives from a sanskrit word...ultimately indo-european.
that said, Bly's translations, while not horrible...seem a bit stilted at times...or "undergraduate-y".(same for his trs. of the latin american writers...)
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