The Poemarium

正岡子規 Masaoka Shiki - 見下せば (Looking down I see)

見下せば月にすゞしや四千軒

mioroseba

tsuki ni suzushi ya

yonsenken

(Masaoka Shiki, Matsuyama, 17 September 1867 - 19 September 1902)

looking down I see,

cool in the moonlight,

4000 houses

Translated by Janine Beichman

e.e. cummings - my sweet old etcetera

my sweet old etcetera
aunt lucy during the recent

war could and what
is more did tell you just
what everybody was fighting

for,
my sister

isabel created hundreds
(and
hundreds)of socks not to
mention shirts fleaproof earwarmers

etcetera wristers etcetera, my
mother hoped that

i would die etcetera
bravely of course my father used
to become hoarse talking about how it was
a privilege and if only he
could meanwhile my

self etcetera lay quietly
in the deep mud et

cetera
(dreaming,
et
 cetera, of
Your smile
eyes knees and of your Etcetera)

(e.e. cummings, Cambridge, Massachussetts, October 14, 1894 – September 3, 1962)

Austin Clarke - A Strong Wind

All day a strong wind blew
Across the green and brown from Kerry.
The leaves hurrying, two
By three, over the road, collected
In chattering groups. New berry
Dipped with old branch. Careful insects
Flew low behind their hedges.
Held back by her pretty petticoat,
Butterfly struggled. A bit of
Paper, on which a schoolgirl had written
'Máire loves Jimmy', jumped up
Into a tree. Tapping in haste,
The wind was telegraphing, hundreds
Of miles. All Ireland raced.

(Austin Clarke, Dublin, 9 May 1896 - 19 March 1974)

Rainer Maria Rilke - Abend (Evening)

Der Abend wechselt langsam die Gewänder,

die ihm ein Rand von alten Bäumen hält;

du schaust: und von dir scheiden sich die Länder,

ein himmelfahrendes und eins, das fällt;

und lassen dich, zu keinem ganz gehörend,

nicht ganz so dunkel wie das Haus, das schweigt,

nicht ganz so sicher Ewiges beschwörend

wie das, was Stern wird jede Nacht und steigt -

und lassen dir (unsäglich zu entwirrn)

dein Leben bang und riesenhaft und reifend,

so daß es, bald begrenzt und bald begreifend,

abwechselnd Stein in dir wird und Gestirn.

(Rainer Maria Rilke, Prague, 4 December 1875 – 29 December 1926)

The sky puts on the darkening blue coat

held for it by a row of ancient trees:

you watch: and the lands grow distant in your sight,

one journeying to heaven, one that falls;

and leave you, not at home in either one,

not quite so still and dark as the darkened houses,

not calling to eternity with the passion

of what becomes a star each night, and rises;

and leave you (inexpressively to unravel)

your life, with its immensity and fear,

so that, now bounded, now immeasurable,

it is alternately stone in you and star.

(Translation Stephen Mitchell – The Selected Poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke)

Francesco Petrarca - Aura che quelle chiome bionde e crespe (Breeze that surrounds those blond and curling locks)

Aura che quelle chiome bionde et crespe
cercondi et movi, et se' mossa da loro,
soavemente, et spargi quel dolce oro,
et poi 'l raccogli, e 'n bei nodi il rincrespe,

tu stai nelli occhi ond'amorose vespe
mi pungon sí, che 'nfin qua il sento et ploro,
et vacillando cerco il mio thesoro,
come animal che spesso adombre e 'ncespe:

ch'or me 'l par ritrovar, et or m'accorgo
ch'i' ne son lunge, or mi sollievo or caggio,
ch'or quel ch'i' bramo, or quel ch'è vero scorgo.

Aër felice, col bel vivo raggio
rimanti; et tu corrente et chiaro gorgo,
ché non poss'io cangiar teco vïaggio?

(Francesco Petrarca, Arezzo, 20 July 1304 - 19 July 1374)

Breeze that surrounds those blond and curling locks,

that makes them move and which is moved by them

in softness, and that scatters the sweet gold,

then gathers it in lovely knots recurling,

you linger in the eyes whence wasps of love

sting me - I feel it far as here and weep -

and staggering I try to find my treasure

the way a beast that shies and stumbles does;

I seem to find her now, now I'm aware

I'm far from her, relieved now, now deluded,

now I see what I yearn for, now the truth./

O happy air, remain with that alive

and lovely ray;and you, clear running stream,

why can I not exchange my course for yours ?

(Translation by Mark Musa, Petrarch, The Canzoniere)

Emily Dickinson - To Flee from Memory

To flee from memory
Had we the Wings
Many would fly
Inured to slower things
Birds with dismay
Would scan the mighty van
Of men escaping
From the mind of man.


(Emily Dickinson, Amsherst, Massachussetts, 10 December 1830 – 15 May 1886)

白居易 - 清夜琴兴 Bai Juyi (Po Chu I) - Ch'in song in clear night

月出鸟栖尽，寂然坐空林。
是时心境闲，可以弹素琴。
清泠由木性，恬澹随人心。
心积和平气，木应正始音。
响余群动息，曲罢秋夜深。
正声感元化，天地清沉沉。

(Bai Juyi, Xinzheng 772-846)

The moon's risen. Birds have settled in.

Now, sitting in these empty woods, silent

mind sounding the borders of idleness,

I can tune the ch'in's utter simplicities:

from the wood's nature, a cold clarity,

from a person's mind, a blank repose.

When mind's gathered clear calm ch'i,

wood can make such sudden song of it,

and after lingering echoes die away,

song fading into depths of autumn night,

you suddenly hear the source of change,

all heaven and earth such depths of clarity.

(Translated by David Hinton, The Selected Poems of Po Chu-I, Anvil)

Painting: Song Huizong, "Ting Qin Tu" 聽琴圖 Listening to the Qin (= Ch'in)

Orhan Veli - Gün olur (There are days)

Gün olur, alır başımı giderim,
Denizden yeni çıkmış ağların kokusunda.
Şu ada senin, bu ada benim,
Yelkovan kuşlarının peşi sıra. Dünyalar vardır, düşünemezsiniz;
Çiçekler gürültüyle açar;
Gürültüyle çıkar duman topraktan. Hele martılar, hele martılar,
Her bir tüylerinde ayrı telaş!...

Gün olur, başıma kadar mavi; 
Gün olur başıma kadar güneş; 
Gün olur, deli gibi... 

(Orhan Veli, Istanbul, 13 April 1914 - 14 November 1950)

There are days

There are days when I pack up and leave
In the smell of the nets pulled out of the sea
Drifting from this island to that
In the trail of the shearwaters.

There are worlds here which you can't imagine
Where flowers bloom with a tumult
And smoke bursts with a blast out of the soil.

And the seagulls, those seagulls
Perk up with a fresh urge in each feather.

There are days I'm blue from top to toe,
There are days when the sun is all over me,
There are days just crazy...

(Translated by Talat Sait Halman, Just for the Hell of It - 114 Poems by Orhan Veli)

Octavio Paz - El Mausoleo de Humayún

Al debate de las avispas
la dialéctica de los monos
gorjeos de las estadísticas
opone
         (alta llama rosa
hecha de piedra y aire y pájaros
tiempo en reposo sobre el agua)

la arquitectura del silencio.

(Octavio Paz, Mexico City, 31 March 1914 – 19 April 1998)

The Mausoleum of Humayun

To the debate of wasps

the dialectic of monkeys

twitterings of statistics

it opposes

                (high flame of rose

formed out of stone and air and birds

time in repose above the water)

silence's architecture

(Translated by Charles Tomlinson)

Federico García Lorca - El Niño Mudo

El niño busca su voz.
(La tenía el rey de los grillos.)
En una gota de agua
buscaba su voz el niño.

No la quiero para hablar;
me haré con ella un anillo
que llevará mi silencio
en su dedo pequeñito.

En una gota de agua
buscaba su voz el niño.

(La voz cautiva, a lo lejos,
se ponía un traje de grillo.)

(Federico García Lorca, Fuente Vaqueros, Granada, 5 June 1898 - 19 August 1936)

The Little Mute Boy

The little boy was looking for his voice.
(The king of the crickets had it.)
In a drop of water
the little boy was looking for his voice.

I do not want it for speaking with;
I will make a ring of it
that my silence may wear
on its little finger.

In a drop of water
the little boy was looking for his voice.

(The captive voice, far away,
put on a cricket's clothes.)

Translation by W.S. Merwin