That landscape lingers in hemi-light
fordi floden ikke ses
Feathered blood inks the skies
fra det sted, hvor jeg befinder mig.
frosted showers just behind me
Og derfor er det også
Embossed air that scars
det landskab, hvor jeg lettest
The landscape — hovers weightless
ville kunne undvære mig selv.
welcome — impairs myself,
Mellem disse grønne høje og blå bjerge
Melodies discover: how they diverge,
føles min person
follows me in person
næsten som en fornærmelse.
hastens something, in forming
Men nødvendig er den: For jeg
Men, nomadic air — gone are the days
ved, hvordan ildfluerne oplyser floden
when wardens have flown — pleasure’s flood;
når mørket skjuler den
no more excuses — then
og ikke som nu, bakkerne
auger something new, back — when
der på grund af de bortvendte skråninger
their background portends — a stranger
vandets turkisgrønne farve
fantasy takes this — gone, starves,
og træstammerne der driver ud mod havet
gives testimony — the driver — it must harvest
forårsager, at jeg er flodens hemmelighed.
forsaken — it just floods, the hemi-light.
“Translated” from FLODENS HEMMELIGHED by Danish poet, Henrik Nordbrandt (lines in light grey are woven in for reference). I chose this randomly from the collection of Danish poems given my own Danish ancestry — and, no, I don’t speak the language, so I committed this butchery honestly. 🙂
∞
Submitted as part of “National/Global Poetry Writing Month” (#NaPoWriMo #GloPoWriMo).
Today’s prompt: Day Twenty-One: Find a poem in a language that you don’t know, and perform a “homophonic translation” on it. What does that mean? Well, it means to try to translate the poem simply based on how it sounds. You may not wind up with a credible poem at the end, but this can be a fun way to step outside of your own mind for a bit, and develop a poem that speaks in a distinctive voice.
30 Poems in 30 Days
All text and photography © Dale Schierbeck
…. more of my original Poetry on EatsWritesShoots here.
WOW! Just WOW!
Thank you Elizabeth. There is no question that it was one of the harder challenges, a bit like trying to steer an unstated car down a windy hill. It was fun and produced a very interesting poem indeed. Glad it left you with “wow.” 🙂