If “untranslateable” is superstition,
I am the world’s most superstitious man.
To mourn with Verlaine in a shared rendition?
Oneself to give white gleam to sail’s lone span?
No penance but translator’s law of mission:
To meet the same wave twice no person can,
Not the same string – new overtone and frisson,
Ever retuned the string where one began.
Most superstitious of translators, yet
I go, follow the flow midst failure’s threat,
Paving the path that runs from word to word.
And, lest I fall into extremes’ strong prison.
’Gainst superstition strive on undeterred,
If “untranslateable” is superstition…
Author notes
I am still snowed under with deadlines and have had no time to write anything new...
This was one of the most urgent of yesterday's jobs - it is by Andriy Sodomora, and this translation will figure in his 70th birthday celebrations this afternoon, hosted by the Translation Studies department at the Lviv Ivan Franko National University.
So, since Margaret is in Ukraine, and since she likes sonnets, and sice she and Sodomora almost share a birthday
I thought it might be of interest...
By the way, I am sure that I do not need to tell Margaret this, but line 4 is an allusion to a rather well known poem by the Russian poet Mikhail Lermontov -which, I imagine. Sodomora has translated into Ukrainian.
A contest entry
- Allpoetry: If you know MargaretG please enter. by Lyndon.
1780 points, ended December 17, 2007, 17 entries
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest - I AM A SUCKY SONNET WRITER SONNET CONTEST by Swan song.
850 points, ended January 4, 2008, 24 entries
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest
Please do not feel obliged to comment - and if you do, please understand that it may be some time before I can acknowledge it.
Comments
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I am very entrhalled by this and it is going to take me a while to judge this contest more than anything because I need to understand the mechanics of poems like this. Good luck and well done
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Well, here is culture!
You have written a fine Petrarchan form to celebrate a 70th birthday. I think Margaret will accept the spirit of it. For readers here, Paul Verlaine was a French Symbolist, given to romance, of C19 France and an early reader of Baudelaire.
"No penance but translator’s law of mission:" is a fine and accurate line.
Contrasting with this is the terrifying responsibility a translator has: "lest I fall into extremes’ strong prison."
Thank you, Vera.
Ron.
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Yes, indeed!
I found this very interesting! I like this sonnet very much, which describes his work and your own, it is very clever. This is a pleasant way to learn what you are doing. Thank you!
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