Poems Translated

Title:
Måske en martsnat
Author:
Grethe Risbjerg Thomsen
20th Century

English translations:
© K. Renato Lings 2007

DANISH

Måske en martsnat

 Jeg dør en lille smule
 for hver en dag der går.
 Jeg bærer døden med mig
 igennem livets år.

 En nat, måske en martsnat
 så mild af regn og tø
 skal jeg gå bort i mørket
 og holde op at dø.

LITERAL TRANSLATION

Perhaps a Night in March

I die a little bit
With every day that passes
I carry death with me
Through the years of life.

One night, perhaps a night in March
So mild with rain and thaw
I shall go away in the dark
And stop dying.

METERED TRANSLATION

For this unrhymed version
I have followed the cadence of
the original, which alternates
between seven and six syllables. 

PERHAPS IT WILL BE MARCH

 I'm dying just a little
 With every passing day
 With death I have to travel
 Throughout the years of life.

 Some balmy night with showers
 Perhaps it will be March
 Into the dark I'll wander
 And leave dying behind.

Tentative, unrhymed translation.
The eleven-syllable cadence is retained.

  

 What have I got that makes you seek my friendship?
 What are you hoping to gain, my dear Jesus
 To make you spend the long dark nights of winter
 Copiously covered in dew on my doorstep?
 Oh how hard indeed were these entrails of mine
 For I did not open. Such strange craziness
 That the icy frost of my ungratefulness
 Should dry the wounds on the pure soles of your feet.
 How many times did the angel say to me,
 "Soul, now come over, look out of the window
 And see with what great love he keeps on knocking."
 And how many times, you sovereign of beauty,
 Did I answer, "Tomorrow we will open,"
 Only to give the same answer tomorrow.

Lope's original sonnet was included in his Rimas sacras (17th century).
The rhyming pattern is ABBA ABBA CDCDCD.

REACHING

K. Renato Lings 1990

 Did once your arms
 Reach out
 To bid a stranger goodbye
 Only to find that his heart
 Reached back
 To welcome you?