Lady Bao Junhui: Moon Over Frontier Mountains (From Classical Chinese)

Moon Over Frontier Mountains
By Lady Bao Junhui
Translated by A.Z. Foreman

Risen high — the moon of fall
Glows north on a Liaoyang¹ barricade
The border is far — the moon gleams farther
Ice-bows flash as winds invade
Soldiers gaze back — home beats at the heart
And war-steeds balk at the beat of a drum
The north wind grieves in the frontier grass
And barbarous sands hide hordes to come
Frost freezes the swordblade into the sheath
Wind wears the banners to bits on the plain
Oh someday— someday —to bow near the palace
And never hear camp-gongs clang again

¹: Liaoyang- a frontier town which has the distinction of being one of the most fiercely, gruesomely and perennially contested pieces of real estate in Chinese history.


The Original:
(Medieval Chinese transcribed using a system developed by David Branner)

Han Characters　 關山月　　 鮑君徽　 高高秋月明，　 北照遼陽城。　 塞迥光初滿，　 風多暈更生。　 徵人望鄉思，　 戰馬聞鼙驚。　 朔風悲邊草，　 胡沙暗虜營。　 霜凝匣中劍，　 風憊原上旌。　 早晚謁金闕，　 不聞刁斗聲。

Medieval Chinese　 kwan2a sran2b ngwat3a báu2 kwen3a hwi3a kau1 kau1 tshou3b ngwat3a meing3a pek1 tsyàu3 lau4 yang3 dzyeing3b sek1 ghwéing4 kwang1 tshruo3b mán1 pung3b te1 ghwèn3a kèing2a sreing2a treng3 nyen3b màng3 hang3 si3d tsyàn3b má2 men3a bei4 keing3a srok2 pung3b pi3cx pan4 tsháu1 ghuo1 sra2 àm1a lúo1 yweing3b srang3 ngeng3 ghap2b trung3b kàm3a pung3b bèi2b ngwan3a dzyàng3 tseing3b　 tsáu1 mán3a at3a kem3x khwat3a pet3a men3a tau4 tóu1 syeing3b

Modern Chinese　 Guān shān yuè　　 Bào Jūn hūi　　 Gāo gāo qiūyuè míng　　 Běizhào liáoyáng chéng　　 Sāi jiǒng guāng chū mǎn　　 Fēng duō yún gèngshēng　　 Zhēng rén wàng xiāngsī　　 Zhànmǎ wén pí jīng　　 Shuòfēng bēi biān cǎo　　 Hú shā àn lǔ yíng　　 Shuāng níng xiá zhōng jiàn　　 Fēng bèi yuán shàng jīng　　 Zǎowǎn yèjīn què　　 Bù wén diāodǒushēng

Anonymous: "Waiting on Him: A Dunhuang Song" (From Chinese)

A popular song from the mid-Tang dynasty, from a collection recovered in a scroll-cave at Dunhuang. Unlike most Song verse in this genre in the early period (but like most other lyrics in the peculiar collection it is taken from, the 雲謠集) this lyric appears to have been actually composed by a woman, rather than by a man in a woman's voice.

Waiting On Him (To the tune of "Bowing to the Moon")
By Anonymous
Translated by A.Z. Foreman

Off to another land my wayward man has gone　
 　But now the new year has well-nigh come
And he hasn't made it home　
 　I hate his love that runs like water　
So reckless and so ready to roam　
He couldn't care less for home　
　Beneath the flowers I turn and pray
 　To the powers of heaven and earth and say 
　　Till this very day
He has left me in this empty room alone　

 I see above me the blues of heaven's dome
　I am sure the moon and stars and sun 　
Must know about my pain　
　I lean at the window-screen alone 　
　And let the tears come streaming down
　　On my gold-beaded silken gown
And cry away at unlucky fate　
 　And how messed up my karma has become
Still I pray I see his face　
 　And I swear I'll give him hell when he gets home


The Original:

拜新月

蕩子他州去　　
已經新歲未還歸
堪恨情如水　　
到處輙狂迷　　
不思家國　　　
花下遙指祝神明
直至于今　　　
拋妾獨守空閨　

上有宆蒼在　　
三光也合遙知　
倚帡幃坐　　　
淚流點滴　　　
金縷羅衣　　　
—自嗟薄命　　
緣業至于思　　
乞求待見面　　
誓辜伊　　　

Li Qingzhao: "A Cut of Plum" (From Classical Chinese)

To the tune "A Cut of Plum"
By Li Qingzhao
Translated by A.Z. Foreman

Now fragrance of red lotus fades,    my mat feels autumn-blown.

    I loosen my gauze robe for bed,

    the boat I float in on my own.

Who's sent a lover's brocade letter    this way across the clouds?

    Skywriting geese return as moonlight

    fills the chill tower of one alone.

Flowers fall and scatter on their own    as waters run and drain.

    A singular longing links us in

    two places with one pointless pain.

This feeling clings and I can't find it    in me to put it out.

    It only falls out of my face

    to surface in the heart again.

The Original:

一剪梅
李清照

紅藕香殘玉簟秋。
輕解羅裳，
獨上蘭舟。
雲中誰寄錦書來？
雁字回時，
月滿西樓。

花自飄零水自流。
一種相思，
兩處閒愁。
此情無計可消除，
才下眉頭，
卻上心頭。

Tuvia Rübner: Spring in the World (From Hebrew)

Spring in the World
Tuvia Rübner

Translated by A.Z. Foreman

The flowers are big, as if
You could live inside their fold.
The clouds are clear in blue,
As if the heart were consoled.

Butterflies burst out, as if
They'd never seen real light shine.
My body with yours, as if nothing
Divided your blood from mine.

Birds in flame, as if
The full sky were at last unfurled.
Laugh-buds bloom, as if
There were spring in the world.

The Original:

אָבִיב בָּעוֹלָם
טוביה ריבנר

הַפְּרָחִים גְּדוֹלִים, כְּאִלּוּ
אֶפְשָׁר לָגוּר בְּתוֹכָם,
עֲנָנִים שְׁקוּפִים בַּתְּכֵלֶת,
כְּאִלּוּ הַלֵּב רֻחַם,

פַּרְפָּרִים מִתְפָּרצִים, כְּאִלּוּ
לֹא רָאוּ אֶת הָאוֹר מֵעוֹדָם,
גּוּפִי עִם גּוּפֵך, כְּאִלּוּ
אֵין גְּבוּל בֵּין דָּם לְדָם,

לַהֲבוֹת צִפֳּרים, כְּאִלּוּ
הַשַׁחַק לְבַסּוֹף נִשְׁלַם, 
צִיצֵי צְחוֹקִים, כְּאִלּוּ
אָבִיב בָּעוֹלָם. 

Zackary Sholem Berger: No (from Yiddish)

No

By Zackary Sholem Berger 

Translated by A.Z. Foreman 

Audio recording of me reading the original

No their death will not revive the dead.

No their hunger is not our bread.

More tears from them just make more tears.

Blood is red. Is red.

The beheaded child. The floating skull...¹

The child under rubble. Lived hardly at all.

Snuffed breath of Jew and Gentile will not blow

Anyone's grief away. No.

I sit and write. One letter. At a time.

Despair is nothing. Live? Maybe. Or die...²

No their destruction has not built one shred.

Dead is dead.

Notes:

¹ — Literally the skull on the water, a reference to the story of Hillel from Pirkei Avot: "He as well saw a skull floating on the surface of the water and he said to it: Because you drowned others they drowned you; and those that drowned you will in the end be drowned."

²— In the original this line reads literally "Despair is nothing. Shall I live? Shall I die?" the last two sentences are in Hebrew, and the whole effect of the sentence puzzled me till I asked the poet about it and he told me he had Psalm 118:17 in mind. At which point with a "no duh" directed at myself, it made sense to me. Still it's hard to make work in English.

The Original:

נישט 

שלום בערגער

נישט זייער טויט וועט מחייה זײַן די טויטע.
נישט זייער הונגער איז אונדזער ברויט.
מערן זייערע טרערן וועט נאָר טרערן מערן.
בלוט איז רויט. איז רויט.

דער שאַרבן אויפֿן וואַסער. דאָס קינד געקעפּט---
דאָס קינד אונטער חורבֿות. האָט קוים געלעבט.
דער געכאַפּטער אָטעם פֿון ייִד און גוי
לופֿטערט נישט קיינעמס נויט. 

איך זיץ און שרײַב, אות נאָך אות
ייאוש איז גאָרנישט, אחיה? אמות?
נישט זייער צעשטערונג האָט אויפֿגעבויט.
טויט איז טויט.

Abū Salīk Gurgānī: Life Advice (From Persian)

Life Advice
Abū Salīk Gurgānī

Translated by A.Z. Foreman

Better to shed your own blood on the ground
Than shed your self-respect on a court's floor. 
Better to worship idols than a man.
That is my teaching. Heed it and endure. 

The Original:

خونِ خْوَد‌را گَر بِریٰزی بر زَمین بِهْ کِه آبِ روٰیْ ریٰزی دَر کَنار

بُت‌پَرَسْتَنْدَه بِه اَز مَردُم‌پَرَست پَنْد گِیر و کار بَنْد و گوٰش دار

xūn-i xwadrā gar birēzī bar zamīn

bih ki āb-i rōy rēzī dar kanār

butparastanda bih az mardumparast

pand gīr u kār band u gōš dār

Rudaki: "Everything's Right" (From Persian)

"Everything's Right"

By Rōdakī

Translated by A.Z. Foreman

 
Everything's right as it should be. It is
A festive time. So yes: feast with them too.
Why drag out your anxieties and fears?
Destiny's state will do what it must do.
Scheming like some Vizier won't turn out well.
The hands of fate will not be turned askew.
Life's wheel cannot create your substitute.
Your mother will not bear another you.
God will not shut a door on you without
Another hundred opening. Go through.

The Original:

كار همه راست، آنچُنان كه بِبايد        حالتِ شاديست، شاد باشى، شايد

اندُه و انديشه را دراز چه دارى؟        دولتِ تو خود همان كند كه بپايد

راىِ وزيران ترا به كار نَيايد،           هرچه صوابست، بخت خود فرمايد

چرخ نَيار بديلِ تو زِ خلايق         وان كه ترا زاد نيز چون تو نَزايد

ايزد هرگز درى نبندد بر تو          تا صد ديگر به بهترى نگشايد

Omar Khayyam: The Skull of Kay Kawos (From Persian)

The Skull of King Kawos

Omar Khayyam

Translated by A.Z. Foreman

I saw a bird perched on the walls of Tōs

Before it lay the skull of King Kāwōs,

And to that skull it cried "Poor king! Poor thing!
Your rolling drums and bells, where now are those?"

The Original:

مرغى ديدم نشسته بر بارهٔ طوس 

در پيش نهاده كلهٔ كى كاووس

با كله همى‌گفت كه افسوس افسوس

كو بانگ جرس‌ها و چه شد نالهٔ كوس

Murɣē dīdam nišasta bar bāra-i tōs
dar pēš nihāda kalla-i kay kāwōs
bā kalla hamē guft ki afsōs afsōs 
kō bāng-i jarashā u či šud nāla-i kōs 

Rudaki: Ode to Nasr bin Ahmad (From Persian)

Ode to Nasr bin Ahmad

By Rudaki

Translated from Persian by A.Z. Foreman

....They knew that the king intended to stay there for that summer also. Then the army's captains and royal nobles went to Abu Abdillah Rudaki, the most honored man in the king's inner circle, who had his ear more than anyone else. They said to him "we will give you five thousand dinars if you can find a way to get the king to move on from here. We are really missing our wives and children, and we're so homesick for Bukhara, it's well-nigh killing us." Rudaki agreed. Since he'd taken the Amir's pulse and understood his state of mind, he realized that prose would not move him, so he opted for verse and composed an ode. When the Amir had taken his morning drink, Rudaki came in and sat down in his place. When the musicians were done, he took up the harp. Playing in Amorosi Minor, he began this poem...

      (From Nizāmī Arūzī's "Four Discourses")

Rolling Moliyan's aromas blow our way

       Memories of friends that love us flow our way.

Where the grit and gravel of the Oxus runs

       Silken soft beneath our feet, we'll go our way.

Thrilled to greet a friend, Jayhun's waves jump their banks

       Half-way up our horses' flanks to show our way.

Here's to you Bukhara and your king. Cheer up!

       He'll return in cheer again. We know our way.

Bright Bukhara is the sky. Our king its moon.

       Soon the moon will move back home to glow our way.

Green Bukhara is a garden. He, its tree,

       He's a cypress bound for home to grow our way.

The Original:

دانستند که سر آن دارد که این تابستان نیز آنجا باشد. پس سران لشکر و مهتران ملک به نزدیک استاد ابو عبدالله الرودکی رفتند و از ندماء پادشاه هیچ کس محتشم‌تر و مقبول القول‌تر از او نبود. گفتند:پنج هزار دینار تو را خدمت کنیم اگر صنعتی بکنی که پادشاه از این خاک حرکت کند که دلهای ما آرزوی ديدن زن و فرزند همی‌برد و جان ما از اشتیاق بخارا همی برآید. رودگی قبول کرد که نبض امیر بگرفته بود و مزاج او بشناخته. دانست که به نثر با او در نگیرد روی به نظم آورد و قصیده‌ای بگفت و به وقتی که امیر صبوح کرده بود درآمد و به جای خویش بنشست و چون مطربان فرو داشتند او چنگ برگرفت و پردهٔ عشاق بنواخت و این قصیده آغاز کرد:

بوى جوى موليان آيذ همى      ياذ يار مهربان آيذ همى

ريگِ آموى و درشتيهاى او        زيرِ پايم پرنيان آيذ همى

آبِ جيحون از نشاطِ روىِ دوست      خنگ مارا تا ميان آيذ همى

اى بخارا شاذ باش و دير زى       ميز زى تو شاذمان آيذ همى

مير ماه است و بخارا آسمان       ماه سوىِ آسمان آيذ همى

مير سرو است و بخارا بوستان       سرو سوىِ بوستان آيذ همى 

Saadi: Golestan 8.12 (From Persian)

From the Golestan: Chapter 8, Section 12

By Saadi of Shiraz

Translated by A.Z. Foreman

Have no mercy an enemy for his powerlessness. If he were powerful, he would have none on you.

      Faced with a helpless enemy,
      Don't brag that you're a gentleman.
      In every body's bone, there's marrow.
      In every shirt, there is a man.

The Original:

بر عجز دشمن رحمت مکن که اگر قادر شود بر تو نبخشاید.

دشمن چو بینی ناتوان

لاف از بروت خود مزن

مغزیست در هر استخوان

مردیست در هر پیرهن

Hafiz: Ghazal 220 "Aspirations" (From Persian)

Ghazal 220 "Aspirations" 
By Hafiz
Translated by A.Z. Foreman

Although our city preacher won't　
like hearing it from me,　
　　He'll never be a Muslim with　
　　this much hypocrisy.　
Learn to get drunk, be a gentleman　
not a dumb animal　
　　That cannot drink a drop of wine 　
　　or be a man at all. 　
The essence must be unalloyed　
to make His grace our own,　
　　Or from our clay no pearls will come
　　nor coral come from stone. 　
The Almighty shall fulfill His will.　
Rejoice, my heart! No con　
　　Or devilry can turn a demon　
　　into a Solomon. 　
Mine is the noble art of love.　　
I hope against belief　　
　　This craft won't bring, as others brought,　　
　　despondency and grief.　　
Last night he said "Tomorrow I　　
will grant your heart's desire"　　
　　God let him have no change of heart
　　nor let him be a liar.
May God add a good heart to all　　
your physical attraction　　
　　So you'll no longer torment me 
　　with harrowing distraction.
Hafiz! Unless a mote of dust　　
aspires to mighty height,　　
　　It is not drawn to the true fount
　　from which the sun draws light.


Prose paraphrase:

(1) Though the city preacher won't find it easy to hear these words, as long as he practices sophistry and hypocrisy, he'll never be a real Muslim. (2) Train yourself in dissolute drunkenness, and be a gentleman to others. For not so artful is the beast that does not drink wine, or become human. (3) There must be a pure-gemmed essence in order to be a vessel for holy grace, for without it stone and clay will not become pearl and coral. (4) He of the Greatest Name does his work - be glad O heart, for by no trick or fraud can a devil ever become Solomon. (5) I practice love, and hope that this noble art will not, as other arts have done, cause me chagrin. (6)  Last night he was saying "Tomorrow I will give you your heart's desire." Oh God, contrive to keep him from having compunction about doing so! (7) For my own sake I pray God include in your beauty a good disposition, so that my mind is no longer distraught and discombobulated. (8) So long as the dustmote lacks lofty aspiration and drive, Hafiz, it is not in quest for the source that is the resplendent sun's own dayspring.   

Notes:

Verse 1: The word for hypocrisy, sālūs is identical to one of the words for the Christian trinity (though they are spelled differently in Perso-Arabic script.) Hypocrisy, for Hafiz, is a cardinal sin against the divine, and this may be a punny way of equating it with the dilution of monotheism, as the triune God of Christianity was, and indeed still is, generally seen by Muslims as a sketchy traducement of God's essential oneness. I myself get the sense that such punctilios as the dubious nature of the trinity (as well as all the things that you have to do or think to be a "true" Muslim) might have been precisely the sort of thing a pietistic preacher would rant about from the pulpit. The real sin isn't the Christian's sālūs (trinity) that would offend the preacher, but rather the preacher's own sālūs (hypocrisy) that offends Hafiz. Thus the preacher who might rant about what makes a proper Muslim is himself failing to measure up.          

Verse 3: See Qur'an [55:19-22]

Verse 7:  Many recensions of this poem have husn-i xulqē zi Xudā mētalabam xōy-i turā "I seek of God a fine disposition for your character", which does not make overmuch sense as xulq and xōy are more or less synonyms. Khanlārī prefers the variant ending in husn-i turā "to your beauty" which seems much more compelling to me. This version makes it clear that the speaker is asking for the beloved to be as good in heart as he is good to look at, for if so he will satisfy the lover's desire rather than making him yearn tormentedly. It also adds a nice bit of wordplay. For ḥusn-i xulq is also a technical term for "virtue of character" in a religious and ethical sense. Hafiz, though, is enjoining the beloved to keep his word and do something which, however pleasurable, is rather at odds with what the jurist would deem virtuous.       


The Original:

گر چه بر واعظ شهر این سخن آسان نشود تا ریا ورزد و سالوس مسلمان نشود

رندی آموز و کرم کن که نه چندان هنر است حیوانی که ننوشد می و انسان نشود

گوهر پاک بباید که شود قابل فیض ور نه هر سنگ و گلی لوءلوء و مرجان نشود

اسم اعظم بکند کار خود ای دل خوش باش که به تلبیس و حیل دیو سليمان نشود

عشق می‌ورزم و امید که این فن شریف چون هنرهای دگر موجب حرمان نشود

دوش می‌گفت که فردا بدهم کام دلت سببی ساز خدایا که پشیمان نشود

حسن خلقی ز خدا می‌طلبم حسن ترا تا دگر خاطر ما از تو پریشان نشود

ذره را تا نبود همت عالی حافظ
طالب چشمه خورشید درخشان نشود

Romanization:

Gar či bar wā'iz-i šahr īn suxan āsān našawad
Tā riā warzad u sālūs musalmān našawad
Rindī āmōz u karam kun ki na čandān hunarast
Hayawānē ki nanōšad may u insān našawad
Gawhar-i pāk bibāyad, ki šawad qābil-i fayz,
War na har sang u gilē lu'lu' u marjān našawad.
Ism-i a'zam bukunad kār-i xwad ay dil, xwaš bāš
Ki ba talbīs u hayal dēw Sulaymān našawad
'Išq mēwarzam u ummēd ki īn fann-i šarīf
Čūn hunarhā-i digar mawjib-i hirmān našawad
Dōš mēguft ki fardā bidiham kām-i dilat
Sababē sāz Xudāyā ki pašēmān našawad
Husn-i xulqē zi Xudā mētalabam husn-i turā
Tā digar xātar-i mā az tu parēšān našawad
Zurrarā tā nabuwad himmat-i 'ālī hāfiz
Tālib-i čašma-i xwaršēd-i duruxšān našawad

Тоҷикӣ:

Гарчи бар воизи шаҳр ин сухан осон нашавад, 

То риё варзаду солус, мусулмон нашавад. 

Риндӣ омӯзу карам кун, ки на чандон ҳунар аст, 

Ҳаявоне, ки нанӯшад маю инсон нашавад. 

Гавҳари пок бибояд, ки шавад қобили файз, 

Варна ҳар сангу гиле лӯълӯву марҷон нашавад. 

Исми аъзам бикунад кори худ, эй дил, хуш бош 

Ки ба талбису ҳиял дев Сулаймон нашавад. 

Ишқ меварзаму уммед, ки ин фанни шариф, 

Чун ҳунарҳои дигар мӯҷиби хирмон нашавад. 

Дӯш мегуфт, ки фардо бидиҳам коми дилат, 

Сабабе соз, Худоё, ки пашемон нашавад. 

Ҳусни хулқе зи Худо металабам ҳусни туро, 

То дигар хотири мо аз ту парешон нашавад. 

Зарраро то набувад ҳиммати олӣ, Ҳофиз, 

Толиби чашмаи хуршеди дурахшон нашавад. 

Pangur Bán (from Old Irish)

The poem translated here is of anonymous authorship, in that the author's name is unknown. But he was an Irish monk operating at or near Reichenau Abbey in what is today Germany in the 9th century. The poem is found in his notebook. The meter of the original is a loose seven-syllable deibide with the featural rhymes typical of Old Irish, in the alternating rinn/ardrinn style in which a stressed syllable is rhymed with an unstressed one. I have rendered it in English with seven-syllable trochaic tetrameter and mostly using full rhymes, which may be a bit sing-songy or clip-cloppy, but seems to fit the tone of the poem rather well. Compare this with my translation of Creide's lament where I used a syllabic approach to vary the rhythm a great deal more, and also used rhymes that — in English — would be judged imperfect but fit the featural criteria for what counts as a rhyme in Irish. 

Pangur Bán 

Translated by A.Z. Foreman

Youtube video of me reciting the original and my translation

Me and Pangur Bán at work:
He the cat, and I the clerk.
He is hunting mice to nip,
I am at my scholarship.

Fame's for fools. I'd rather rest
Studying my book with zest.
Happy for me, Pangur Bán
Plies his child-play all he can.

It's our never-boring tale.
We two, home alone, can't fail
To find everlasting sport
On which to fixate our art.

After berserk battle he

Nets a mouse in victory.

Me, I net a hard, dark line

Till I make its meaning shine.

His bright penetrating eye

Points toward the wall. While I 

Set my far less piercing sight

On a point more recondite.

He exults, getting a raw

Mouse impaled upon his claw.

When a dear yet difficult

Problem yields, I too exult.

That's us, ever at our art.

None bugging his counterpart, 

Each making a craft his own

To rejoice in it alone. 

Crafty Pangur, cat of prey,

Plies his trade by night and day.

I do monk's work, day and night,

Solving, bringing dark to light.

The Original:

Messe ocus Pangur Bán,

cechtar nathar fria saindán;

bíth a menma-sam fri seilgg,

mu menma céin im saincheirdd

Caraim-se fos, ferr cach clú,

oc mu lebrán léir ingnu;

ní foirmtech frimm Pangur bán,

caraid cesin a maccdán.

Ó ru·biam — scél cen scís —

innar tegdais ar n-óendís,

táithiunn — díchríchide clius —

ní fris tarddam ar n-áthius.

Gnáth-húaraib ar gressaib gal

glenaid luch inna lín-sam;

os mé, du·fuit im lín chéin

dliged n-doraid cu n-dronchéill.

Fúachid-sem fri frega fál

a rosc anglése comlán;

fúachimm chéin fri fégi fis

mu rosc réil, cesu imdis,

Fáelid-sem cu n-déne dul

hi·n-glen luch inna gérchrub;

hi·tucu cheist n-doraid n-dil,

os mé chene am fáelid.

Cía beimmi amin nach ré,

ní·derban cách ar chéle.

Maith la cechtar nár a dán,

subaigthius a óenurán.

Hé fesin as choimsid dáu

in muid du·n-gní cach óenláu;

du thabairt doraid du glé

for mu mud céin am messe.

Lament of Créide for Dínertach (From Old Irish)

This poem preserved in the West Munster cycle. According to the prose preface there, Dínertach had come to fi ght for Guaire of Gort in 649 and was killed in battle, and the poem was made by Guaire's daughter Créd who had fallen for him. This does not make overmuch sense, as the poem is more intelligible if it is Guaire's wife who is speaking. The language of the poem, as reconstructed from a later copy, puts it in the late 9th century, hundreds of years after the events that supposedly occasioned it. It gives me the impression of having been originally an independent work that was eventually sutured into a prose narrative.

Créide's Lament for Dínertach (ca. 9th century)

Translated by A.Z. Foreman

These sleep-slaughtering arrows strike
Every hour in cold of night:
Pangs for time spent after dark
With the man from Roigne's march.

Mad love for an outlander
Who outstripped his every peer
Has stripped my bloom, bleached my cheek,
And will now not let me sleep.

He spoke sweeter than men sing
Save those hymning heaven's king:
My great flame who spoke no bluff,
My sleek, tender-sided love.

As a girl I was modest,
Had no truck with lust or tryst.
Now in my uncertain age
Wantonness plays its charades.

Here I've got every good thing
With Gúaire, cold Aidne's king.
But the mind will out afar
From my folk to Irluachar.

Here they sing round Cell Colmán
In grand Aidne of that man
From past Limerick's grave-track,
The great flame named Dínertach.

Christ! It mutilates my heart
How they killed him in the dark.
These sleep-slaughtering arrows strike
Every hour in cold of night.

The Original:

It é saigte gona súain,

cech thrátha i n-aidchi adúair,

serccoí, lia gnása, íar n-dé,

fir a tóeb thíre Roigne.

Rográd fir ala thíre

ro-síacht sech a chomdíne

ruc mo lí (ní lór do dath);

ním-léci do thindabrad.

Binniu laídib a labrad

acht Ríg nime nóebadrad:

án bréo cen bréthir m-braise,

céle tana tóebthaise.

Imsa naídiu robsa náir:

ní bínn fri dúla dodáil;

ó do-lod i n-inderb n-aís

rom-gab mo théte togaís.

Táthum cech maith la Gúaire,

la ríg n-Aidni adúaire;

tocair mo menma óm thúathaib

isin íath i n-Irlúachair.

Canair a i n-íath Aidni áin,

im thóebu Cille Colmáin,

án bréo des Luimnech lechtach

díanid comainm Dínertach. 

Cráidid mo chride cainech,

a Chríst cáid, a ̇foraided:

it é saigte gona súain

cech thrátha i n-aidchi adúair.

Baudelaire: The Enemy (From French)

The Enemy
By Charles Baudelaire
Translated by A.Z. Foreman

Hear me recite the original here on Youtube

My youth was but a dark-aired hurricane,
Pierced by an eye of sun from time to time;
So ravaged was my world by bolts and rain
That in my garden few red fruits still climb.

Now at the autumn of the mind I stand,
And here I am to toil with rake and spade
If I am to renew this flooded land
Of grave-sized holes the burrowing rains have made.

And who knows if my dream-grown flowers shall reach
Beneath this soil now scrubbed into a beach
And taste the mystic foods that heal their parts?

Agony. Agony! Time eats our lives
As the dark Enemy that gnaws our hearts
Grows bloated with the blood we lose, and thrives. 

The Original:

L'Ennemi

Ma jeunesse ne fut qu'un ténébreux orage,
Traversé çà et là par de brillants soleils;
Le tonnerre et la pluie ont fait un tel ravage,
Qu'il reste en mon jardin bien peu de fruits vermeils.

Voilà que j'ai touché l'automne des idées,
Et qu'il faut employer la pelle et les râteaux
Pour rassembler à neuf les terres inondées,
Où l'eau creuse des trous grands comme des tombeaux.

Et qui sait si les fleurs nouvelles que je rêve
Trouveront dans ce sol lavé comme une grève
Le mystique aliment qui ferait leur vigueur?

— Ô douleur! ô douleur! Le Temps mange la vie,
Et l'obscur Ennemi qui nous ronge le coeur
Du sang que nous perdons croît et se fortifie!

Joseph Freiherr von Eichendorff: Forest Conversation (From German)

Forest Conversation

Joseph Freiherr von Eichendorff

Translated by A.Z. Foreman

It's late and cold. The light is gone.

So why ride through these woods alone?

The woods are vast. I'll be your guide

And help you home, you pretty bride."

"Great are men's lies and trickery.

They broke my heart in agony.

The hunter's bugle echoes round.

Oh flee. You don't know whom you've found."

Lady and horse, richly adorned.

Young body, marvelously formed.

I know you now. Dear God on high!

You are that witch, the Lorelei.

"Know me indeed! That tower is mine 

That looks out deep into the Rhine.

It's late and cold. The light is gone.

Your life outside these woods is done."

Me reading this poem:

A. Z. Foreman · "Forest Conversation"/"Waldgespräch" by Eichendorff, read in German and in my English translation

The Original:

Waldgespräch

Joseph Karl Benedikt, Freiherr von Eichendorff

 
Es ist schon spät, es wird schon kalt,
Was reit'st du einsam durch den Wald?
Der Wald ist lang, du bist allein,
Du schöne Braut! Ich führ' dich heim!

"Groß ist der Männer Trug und List,
Vor Schmerz mein Herz gebrochen ist,
Wohl irrt das Waldhorn her und hin,
O flieh! Du weißt nicht, wer ich bin."

So reich geschmückt ist Roß und Weib,
So wunderschön der junge Leib,
Jetzt kenn' ich dich - Gott steh' mir bei!
Du bist die Hexe Lorelei. -

"Du kennst mich wohl - von hohem Stein
Schaut still mein Schloß tief in den Rhein.
Es ist schon spät, es wird schon kalt,
Kommst nimmermehr aus diesem Wald."

Heinrich Heine: "The Runestone Juts into the Sea" (From German)

"Es ragt in's Meer der Runenstein"
Heinrich Heine
Translated by A.Z. Foreman

The runestone juts into the sea.
I sit beside it & dream. 
The seawinds skirl. The seagulls cry.
The waves foam away and stream.

I have loved many a pretty girl
And many a good lad in my day.
Where have they gone? The seawinds skirl.
The waves keep streaming away.

Me reading the original:

A. Z. Foreman · "The Runestone justs into the sea" by Heinrich Heine, read in German and in my English translation

The Original:

Es ragt in’s Meer der Runenstein,

Da sitz’ ich mit meinen Träumen.

Es pfeift der Wind, die Möwen schrein,

Die Wellen, die wandern und schäumen.

Ich habe geliebt manch schönes Kind

Und manchen guten Gesellen –

Wo sind sie hin? Es pfeift der Wind,

Es schäumen und wandern die Wellen.

Anonymous: Opening of "Charlemagne and Elfguest" (From Middle Dutch)

"Karel ende Elegast", a medieval Romance about Charlemagne going out stealing in the middle of night on God’s orders, and in the process discovering a conspiracy on his life, is among the most famous pieces of Middle Dutch literature. Surprisingly I can't find anyone who has done a verse-translation into English. I guess if you want a thing done right, you gotta do it your own self. I here translate the first 82 lines of it. 

Opening of Charlemagne and Elfguest
Anonymous
Translated by A.Z. Foreman

There is a real true history
I can tell you. Listen to me:

It happened just as evening fell
While Charlemagne was sleeping well
Along the Rhine at Ingelheim.
The land was all his. At the time 
He was both emperor and king.
Hear what a true yet wondrous thing
Happened Charlemagne back then
(Remembered still by many men)
One night at Palace Ingelheim 
Where he had planned in one day's time
To hold court and wear his crown
So to magnify his renown. 

Now as the king in slumber lay
A holy angel called his way. 
So the king suddenly woke
At these words that angel spoke.
He said "Get up now, noble man.
Get dressed quickly as you can,
Arm yourself. Go out and steal.
God himself bid me reveal
This task to you. He is Lord on high.
Do it, or in dishonor die. 
Unless you ride tonight and thieve,
Evil will befall you. Believe:  
It will be the end of you.
You will die, your life be through
Before this next court finishes.
So now, take good heed of this
And go out stealing. Take your chance. 
Take your shield and take your lance.
Arm yourself. Go, mount your steed
And do not dally. Ride with speed."
This the king heard, open-eared.
It struck him as rather weird. 
There was no one to be seen,
He wondered what that voice might mean.
He assumed he'd dreamt it, and then
Paid it no mind. But once again 
Spoke the heavens' messenger
Angrily to the emperor:
"Get UP Charles. Go out and steal.
 God hath sent me to reveal
This His will. Go out. Ride on.
Do it, or your life is done."
This and nothing more said he.
And the king cried "Mercy me!"
Upset as he had ever been
"What does this freakish happening mean?
Are elf-delusions making me blunder
With figments of this monstrous wonder?
Oh God in heaven, honestly
What need even is there for me
To go out stealing? I am so rich,
There is no man with whom I'd switch,
No man on earth, not king or count,
Whose wealth amounts to my amount,
Unless he is my vassal too
And gives me service as my due.
My land is so massive, there
Is nothing like it anywhere. 
The land is entirely mine
From Cologne upon the Rhine
To as far as Rome which none
Own but the emperor alone.
I am king and my wife queen
From the eastern Danube's stream
To the wild and western sea.
And there's still more that belongs to me:
There's Galicia and Spain
Which I won by battle's reign
When I chased the heathen out
So now it's mine without a doubt. 
Why would I need to thieve at all
Like some pathetic criminal?

Why does God bid this of me?

I would hate to break his decree.

But did he really bid me thieve?

It's a struggle to believe

That the Mighty King of Kings

Wills me the shame of stealing things." 

Audio of me reading the first 76 lines of the original in Middle Dutch:

A. Z. Foreman · Uittreksel van "Karel ende Elegast" in het Middelnederlands vorgelezen

The Original:

Vraeye historie ende al waer 

mach ic u tellen, hoorter naer. 

Het was op enen avontstonde 

dat Karel slapen begonde 

tEngelem op den Rijn.

Dlant was alle gader sijn.

Hi was keyser ende coninc mede. 

Hoort hier wonder ende waerhede! 

Wat den coninc daer ghevel,

dat weten noch die menige wel. 

tEnghelem al daer hi lach

ende waende op den anderen dach 

crone draghen ende houden hof 


omme te meerner sinen lof.

Daer die coninc lach ende sliep, 

een heilich engel aen hem riep, 

so dat die coninc ontbrac

biden woerden die dengel sprac 

hij seyde: “Staet op, edel man. 

Doet haestelic u cleeder an, 

wapent u ende vaert stelen, 

God die hiet mi u bevelen,

die in hemelrike is here,

of ghi verliest lijf ende eere.

En steeldi in deser nacht niet, 

so is u evel gheschiet.

Ghi sulter omme sterven 

ende uwes levens derven

eer emmermeer scheit dit hof.

Nu verwacht u daer of,

vaert stelen of ghi wilt.

Neemt uwen speere ende uwen schilt, 

wapent u, sit op u paert

haestelic ende niet en spaert.

Dit verhoorde die coninc.

Het docht hem een vreemde dinc, 

want hi daer niemant en sach, 

wat dat roepen bedieden mach.

Hi waendet slapende hebben gehoort 

ende hilt hem niet an dat woert. 

Dengel die van Gode quam,

sprac ten coninc als die was gram: 

“Staet op, Karel, ende vaert stelen, 

God die hiet my u bevelen

ende ontbiedet u te voren,

anders hebdi u lijf verloren.”

Met dien woerde sweech hi.

Ende die coninc riep “Ay mi,” 

als die seere was vereent.

“Wat ist dat dit wonder meent? 

Ist alfs ghedroch dat mi quelt 

endit grote wonder telt?

Ay, hemelsche drochtijn, 

wat node soude mij sijn 

te stelene? Ic ben so rike.

En is man in aertrijcke,

weder coninc noch graven,

die so rijc sijn van haven,

sine moeten mi sijn onderdaen 

ende te minen diensten staen.

Mijn lant is so groot,

men vint nyewers sijns ghenoot.

Dlant is algader mijn

tote Colene opten Rijn 

ende tote Romen voort,

alst den keyser toe behoort.

 Ic ben here, mijn wijf is vrouwe,

oest totter wilder Denouwe

ende west totter wilder see.

Nochtans heb ic goets veel meer:

Galissien en Spandien lant,

dat ic selve wan mitter hant,

ende ic die heydene verdreef,

dat mi dlant alleene bleef.

Wat node soude mi sijn dan 

te stelene ellendich man?

Waer om ontbiedet mi dit God? 

Node brekic sijn ghebot - 

wistic dat hijt mi ontbode.

En mochs niet gheloven node 

dat mi God die lachter onste 

dat ic te stelen begonste.”

Storm on the Great Moor (From Old Irish)

Storm on the Great Moor

(Anonymous: possibly 9th century)

Translated by A.Z. Foreman

Night falls cold on the Great Moor,
Storming with no small downpour. 
Wind laughs at its whooping flood
Shrieking on shielding wildwood.

Me reading the original Old Irish:

A. Z. Foreman · "Úar ind adaig" read in Old Irish and in English translation

The Original:

Úar ind adaig i móin móir 
feraid dertan ní deróil
dordán fris tib in gaeth glan
geissid ós caille clithar

Dafydd ap Gwilym: The Seagull (From Welsh)

The Seagull

By Dafydd ap Gwilym

Translated by A.Z. Foreman

Seagull floating　on the seething tideflow,
White as moonlight　or wild snow,
Moving in beauty　immaculate, 
As a sunbeam-shard　or sea-gauntlet,
Lightly skimming 　the swell windward,
Swift fish-eating　stately bird
Wont to angle　at anchor with me
Side by side there,　a sea-lily,
Shining letter 　in silvered text,
A nun atop　the sea-tide's crest. 

Perfect girl-symbol 　worth praise in art,
Go for the curves　of castle and rampart.
Keep looking, seagull, 　till you light on her
Gorgeous as Igraine, 　 on the grand tower.
Speak my words 　in sweet concord.
Let her choose me 　and love my word.
If you see her alone 　(since success
With so rare a girl　 takes real deftness)
Then get some nerve　to greet her. Say I,
A well-bred lad,　must win her or die. 

I love that girl, 　my guard of vigor.
No lover has loved 　a lovelier
I'm telling you, men. 　Not Taliesin
Nor flattery-lipped　lusty Merlin.
Such a man-stopper　with copper hair
And superlative form　far too proper.

Oh yes, good gull 　if you do come
To that most charming cheek　 in Christendom,
Unless she answers 　my love kindly
That girl will mean　the end of me.

Audio of me reading the original Welsh:

A. Z. Foreman · "Yr Wylan" by Dafydd ap Gwilym read in Welsh and English translation

The Original:

Yr Wylan

Yr wylan deg ar lanw, dioer,

Unlliw ag eiry neu wenlloer,

Dilwch yw dy degwch di,

Darn fel haul, dyrnfol heli.

Ysgafn ar don eigion wyd,

Esgudfalch edn bysgodfwyd.

Yngo'r aud wrth yr angor

Lawlaw â mi, lili môr.

Llythr unwaith lle'th ariannwyd,

Lleian ym mrig llanw môr wyd.

Cyweirglod bun, cai'r glod bell,

Cyrch ystum caer a chastell.

Edrych a welych, wylan,

Eigr o liw ar y gaer lân.

Dywaid fy ngeiriau dyun,

Dewised fi, dos hyd fun.

Byddai'i hun, beiddia'i hannerch,

Bydd fedrus wrth fwythus ferch

Er budd; dywaid na byddaf,

Fwynwas coeth, fyw onis caf.

Ei charu'r wyf, gwbl nwyf nawdd,

Och wŷr, erioed ni charawdd

Na Merddin wenithfin iach,

Na Thaliesin ei thlysach.

Siprys dyn giprys dan gopr,

Rhagorbryd rhy gyweirbropr.

Och wylan, o chai weled

Grudd y ddyn lanaf o Gred,

Oni chaf fwynaf annerch,

Fy nihenydd fydd y ferch.

Thankful for a Stormy Night (From Old Irish)

This short piece was written by a monk in the margin of an Irish manuscript of Priscian's Institutiones grammaticae. The poem's author welcomes a stormy night free from the risk of attacking Vikings, and supplies us with our earliest attestation of the Irish name for Scandinavia.  

Thankful for a Stormy Night

Anonymous (9th century)

Translated by A.Z. Foreman from Old Irish

Bitter wild winds blow tonight,
Tossing the sea's tress to white.
Good. I don't fear clear seas may
Bring berserkers from Norway.

Audio of me reading the original Old Irish:

A. Z. Foreman · "Is acher in gáeth" read in reconstructed Old Irish pronunciation

The Original:

Is aicher in gáeth in nocht
fu·fúasna fairrge findḟolt;
ní·águr réimm Mora Minn
dond láechraid lainn úa Lothlind

"Summer's Gone" (From Old Irish)

"Summer's Gone"

Anonymous

Translated by A.Z. Foreman

Here's my song.   Sad stags moan.

Winter blows,   summer's gone.

High winds lash.    Low, the sun.

Short, its course.   Seas roar on.

Fall-red fern   loses form.

Wildgeese wail   as the norm.

Cold now holds   each bird's wing.

Icy times.   So I sing.

The Original:

Scél lemm dúib   dordaid dam

snigid gaim   ro·fáith sam

Gáeth ard úar   ísel grían

gair a r-rith   ruirthech rían

Rorúad rath   ro·cleth cruth 

ro·gab gnáth   giugrann guth

Ro·gab úacht   etti én

aigre ré   é mo scél

Vasyl Stus: A Hundred Years (From Ukrainian)

A Hundred Years Since Sich Went Down

By Vasyl' Stus

Translated by A. Z. Foreman

A hundred years since Sich* went down.

Siberia. Solovkí**. Cells creak.

And utter night comes all around

a hellhole land and hellish shriek.

A hundred years of tortured dreams,

hopes, expectations, faith and blood

of sons all branded for their love,

hearts like a hundred blazing beams.

From their bast shoes they grow to run.

From Cossack breeches on the plain

each hut's slave grows into a son

of the one mother called Ukraine.

You shall not perish. You have pith.

Land sacked and slaved for centuries,

They cannot hope to lynch you with

Siberias and Solovkís.

You are still aching with old pain,

in pieces still, still torn and bleeding

but tough already and untamed

you stand with a straight spine for freedom.

You nursed on rage for mother's milk.

You'll have no peace from it. Today

it will keep growing, growing, till

the prison doors are blown away

as storms of jovial thunder blast

bolts from the sky, and native words

— Shevchenko's*** prophesying birds —

soar over the Dnipro at last. 

*Sich - main encampment of the Ukrainian Cossacks until Catherine II ordered it destroyed

** Solovkí — the Solovkí islands were home to an infamous Soviet concentration camp that bore their name. 

***Ukraine's national poet

Audio of me reading the original Ukrainian:

A. Z. Foreman · "A Hundred Years" by Vasyl Stus, read in Ukrainian and in my English translation

The Original:

Сто років як сконала Січ.

Сибір. І соловецькі келії.

І глупа облягає ніч

пекельний край і крик пекельний.

Сто років мучених надій,

і сподівань, і вір, і крові

синів, що за любов тавровані,

сто серць, як сто палахкотінь.

Та виростають з личаків,

із шаровар, з курної хати

раби зростають до синів

своєї України-матері.

Ти вже не згинеш, ти двожилава,

земля, рабована віками,

і не скарать тебе душителям

сибірами і соловками.

Ти ще виболюєшся болем,

ти ще роздерта на шматки,

та вже, крута і непокірна,

ти випросталася для волі,

ти гнівом виросла. Тепер

не матимеш од нього спокою,

йому ж рости і рости, допоки

не упадуть тюремні двері.

І радісним буремним громом

спадають з неба блискавиці,

Тарасові провісні птиці —

слова шугають над Дніпром.

Hryhoriy Chubay: Half a Breath (From Ukrainian)

This translation was originally published in EastWest Literary Forum

Half a Breath

By Hryhoriy Chubay

Translated by A.Z. Foreman

When I am half a breath off from your lips,
When I am half a step away from you you — 

Your pupils are all woven out of wonder
And in your eyes it's all boundless and blue

You whisper something quiet and bewitched.
That whisper bluely cuts my quiet through
And I forget that I know how to breathe,
And I forget my feet can walk to you. 

Your eyelids' raven rises black in flight
And whisks my confidence somewhere remote,
Now half a step is left behind unwalked
And half a breath is stuck here in my throat.

Your pupils are all woven out of wonder

And in your eyes it's all boundless and blue

But there is half a breath left to your lips
And half a step left from my lips to you.    

Recording of the Original:

A. Z. Foreman · "Half A Step" by Hryhoriy Chubay, read in Ukrainian and in my English translation

The Original:

Коли до губ твоїх

Григорій Чубай

Коли до губ твоїх лишається півподиху,

Коли до губ твоїх лишається півкроку -

Зіниці твої виткані із подиву,

В очах у тебе синьо і широко.

Щось шепчеш зачаровано і тихо ти,

Той шепіт мою тишу синьо крає.

І забуваю я, що вмію дихати,

І що ходити вмію, забуваю.

А чорний птах повік твоїх здіймається

І впевненість мою кудись відмає.

Неступленим півкроку залишається,

Півподиху у горлі застрягає.

Зіниці твої виткані із подиву,

В очах у тебе синьо і широко,

Але до губ твоїх лишається півподиху,

До губ твоїх лишається півкроку.

Taras Shevchenko: Testament (From Ukrainian)

Testament

Taras Shevchenko 

Translated by A.Z. Foreman

When I die, then bury me
On a rolling plain.
Raise my barrow in the soil
Of my dear Ukraine
With the wheatfields and the cliffs
Of a plunging shore
In my sight, where I can hear
The booming Dnipro's roar.

When its seaward waters bear
The invaders' blood
From Ukraine, then I will leave
Field and hill for good.
I will quit it all and fly
Bursting up to God
And say prayers..but till then
I don't know a god.

Bury me then rise again
And shatter your chains.
Stand and water freedom with
Blood from tyrant veins.
Then in a new family,
The great kin of the free, 
Say a kindly, quiet word
In my memory.

— Dec. 25, 1845

Me reading the original:

A. Z. Foreman · "Testament" by Taras Shevchentko, read in Ukrainian and English

The Original:

Заповіт

Тарас Шевченко 

Як умру, то поховайте

Мене на могилі

Серед степу широкого

На Вкраїні милій,

Щоб лани широкополі,

І Дніпро, і кручі

Було видно, було чути,

Як реве ревучий.

Як понесе з України

У синєє море

Кров ворожу... отойді я

І лани і гори —

Все покину, і полину

До самого Бога

Молитися... а до того

Я не знаю бога.

Поховайте та вставайте,

Кайдани порвіте

І вражою злою кров’ю

Волю окропіте.

І мене в сем’ї великій,

В сем’ї вольній, новій,

Не забудьте пом’янути

Незлим тихим словом.

Proem to Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (from Middle English)

I posted a throw-away translation of the first stanza of this rightly celebrated Middle English poem just for kicks on Twitter, and people really liked it. Somebody even commissioned me anonymously to do more of it — for God only knows what reason. Not that I'm not appreciative, of course, but it feels like yet another modern English translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a bit superfluous. I mean, a new version of this thing comes out like every decade, and translating Middle English into modern English feels . And you want yet another? People are weird. Anyway, the complete commission called for the first couple hundred lines, and I'm not posting that much here because reasons. But here's the proem.

On the other hand, most recordings of Middle English literature utterly fail at maintaining what is known about actual Middle English phonology. So, I've included a recording of the two stanzas in the original, in a reconstruction of how English was pronounced in the West Midlands in the late 14th century. 

Proem to Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

By the Gawain Poet (duh)

Translated by A.Z. Foreman

Audio recording of me reading the original

After the siege and the assault　on the city of Troy
When that fortress was felled　in flame into ashes
And the knight who crafted　the cunning decoys
Was tried for his treachery,　the truest on earth,
It was hero Aeneas　and his high-born kin
Who went conquering abroad,　and became masters
Of well-nigh all the wealth　in the Westland Isles.
When Royal Romulus　goes careering to Rome
With strength and splendor　he sets up the city, 
Which is known even now　by the name he gave it,
So too Ticius to Tuscany,　constructing townships
And Longobeard to Lombardy　where he lay foundations,
And far over the French sea,　one Felix Brutus 
On broad-sloping banks　founds Britain, where our story
　　　　　　begins
　　　　Where war and woe and wonders
　　　　Have left their many prints,
　　　　Where happiness and horror
　　　　Have cycled ever since. 
And when this Britain was built　by that brave noble
Bold lords were bred there,　battle-happy men
Who kept turning to trouble　with the returning years.
There have been more awful marvels　met in that country 
Than any other I know of　since the earliest days. 
But of all who there castled, 　of the Kings of Britain,
Great Arthur was the noblest,　as everyone knows.
And so I aim to call up　an epic event
Which has struck many men  　as amazingly strange,
One of the weirdest of all　the wonders of Arthur,
If you will listen to my lay　for a little while
I'll tell it straight as I heard it　recited in the hall
　　　　　　again
　　　　From records rightly written
　　　　With firm and faithful pen,
　　　　Heard loud and long in Britain
　　　　Of old from honest men.

The Original:

Siþen þe sege and þe assaut     watz sesed at troye,

þe borȝ brittened and brent     to brondez and askez

þe tulk þat þe trammes     of tresoun þer wroȝt(e)

watz tried for his tricherie,     þe trewest on erþe:

hit watz ennias þe athel     and his highe kynde

þat siþen depreced prouinces   and patrounes bicome

welneȝe of al þe wele     in þe west iles.

Fro riche romulus to rome     ricchis hym swyþe,

with gret bobbaunce þat burȝ     he biges vpon fyrst(e)

and neuenes hit his aune nome,     as hit now hat(e);

ticius to tuskan     and teldes bigynnes,

langaberde in lumbardie     lyftes vp homes;

and fer ouer þe french flod     felix brutus

on mony bonkkes ful brode     bretayn he settez

                    wyth wynne,

          where werre and wrake and wonder

          bi syþez hatz wont þerinne,

          and oft boþe blysse and blunder

          ful skete hatz skyfted synne.

Ande quen þis bretayn watz bigged    bi þis burn rych(e),

bolde bredden þerinne      baret þat lofden,

in mony turned tyme      tene þat wroȝten.

Mo ferlyes on þis folde      han fallen here oft(e)

þen in any oþer þat I wot      syn þat ilk tyme.

bot of al þat here bult,      of bretaygne kynges,

aye watz arthur þe hendest,      as I haf herde telle.

forþi an aunter in erde      I attle to schewe,

þat a selly in siȝt      summe men hit holden

and an outtrage awenture      of arthurez wonderez.

If ȝe wyl lysten to þis laye      bot on littel quile,

I schal telle hit as tit(e),      as I in toun herde

                    with tonge,

          as hit is stad and stoken

          in stori stif and stronge,

          with lel(e) lettres loken

          in londe so hatz ben longe.

Ghayyar-El ben Ghawth: A Safaitic War Chant (from Old Arabic)

Today we have an ancient Safaitic war chant, a poem discovered and deciphered by Ahmad Al-Jallad at Marabb al-Shurafā', a mudflat in the Ḥarrah of north-eastern Jordan. The inscription is hard to date but probably comes from around the turn of the first centuries BC and AD. 

It seems to me that a Safaitic inscriptional text, especially one this which is thus far unique in its length and register, would have been chanted, given the highly ritualized nature. (Certainly in more recent centuries that seems to have been — and to a degree still is — the traditional Bedouin practice.) So I did that here in reading the original text. I offer my own translation, composed for readability.

Safaitic War Chant

By Ghayyar-El(?)

Translated by A.Z. Foreman

Click to hear me recite the original in a reconstruction of Safaitic Arabic

By Ghayyar-El son of Ghawth of the line of Hathay, from when he left his folk

      Now let him camp for war
            So be his final campment here today
      Fame for him is first
            So be his final campment here today

      He suffers who returns
            So be his final campment here today

He made for the marchlands, and alighted in the heath. There he kept watch for his uncle Sakran, exalting him with "Fortune be his". 

So keep him safe, Allāt.

The Original:

(Tracing done by Al-Jallad)

𐩡𐩶𐩺𐩧𐩱𐩡𐩨𐩬𐩶𐩻𐩹𐩱𐩡𐩢𐩼𐩺𐩥𐩧𐩢𐩡 𐩣𐩱𐩠𐩡𐩠

𐩰𐩢𐩡𐩡𐩠𐩣𐩢𐩧𐩨

𐩰𐩠𐩺𐩣𐩠𐩬𐩱𐩭𐩧𐩢𐩡𐩡

𐩧𐩱𐩪𐩹𐩫𐩧𐩩

𐩰𐩠𐩺𐩣𐩠𐩬𐩱𐩭𐩧𐩢𐩡𐩡

𐩲𐩬𐩺𐩣𐩬𐩢𐩮𐩰

𐩰𐩠𐩺𐩣𐩠𐩬𐩱𐩭𐩧𐩢𐩡𐩡

𐩢𐩵𐩵𐩥𐩻𐩥𐩺𐩨𐩠𐩧𐩳𐩩𐩥𐩭𐩧𐩮𐩭𐩡𐩠𐩪𐩫𐩧𐩬𐩺𐩧𐩨𐩰𐩠𐩨𐩤𐩡𐩰𐩸𐩠

𐩰𐩠𐩡𐩩𐩪𐩡𐩣

Bertolt Brecht: Questions from a Worker who Reads (From German)

Questions from a Worker who Reads History

Bertolt Brecht

Translated by A.Z. Foreman

Click to hear me read the original German

Who built seven-gated Thebes?

The books keep the names of kings. 

Was it kings who hauled the chunks of rock?

And Babylon, destroyed and redestroyed,

Who built and rebuilt it all those times? In what houses

Of gold-gleaming Lima did its builders live? 

Where did the masons go that evening

When the Great Wall of China 

Was done? Great Rome 

Is full of triumphal arches. Who erected them? Whom 

Did the Caesars triumph over? Did much-hymned Byzantium

Have only palaces for all who lived there? Even in legended Atlantis

The night the sea devoured it, the drowning still

Shouted for their slaves. 

Young Alexander conquered India.

All by himself? 

Caesar beat the Gauls.

Had he not so much as a cook with him? 

Philip of Spain wept when his Armada

Went down. Did nobody else weep?

Frederick II won the Seven Years' War. Who

Besides him won it? 

A victory every page

Who cooked the victory feasts?

A great man every decade

Who paid the bill?

So many reports

So many questions

The Original:

Fragen eines lesenden Arbeiters

Bertolt Brecht

Wer baute das siebentorige Theben?

In den Büchern stehen die Namen von Königen.

Haben die Könige die Felsbrocken herbeigeschleppt?

Und das mehrmals zerstörte Babylon

Wer baute es so viele Male auf? In welchen Häusern

Des goldstrahlenden Lima wohnten die Bauleute?

Wohin gingen an dem Abend, wo die Chinesische Mauer fertig war

Die Maurer? Das große Rom

Ist voll von Triumphbögen. Wer errichtete sie? Über wen

Triumphierten die Cäsaren? Hatte das vielbesungene Byzanz

Nur Paläste für seine Bewohner? Selbst in dem sagenhaften Atlantis

Brüllten in der Nacht, wo das Meer es verschlang

Die Ersaufenden nach ihren Sklaven.

Der junge Alexander eroberte Indien.

Er allein?

Cäsar schlug die Gallier.

Hatte er nicht wenigstens einen Koch bei sich?

Philipp von Spanien weinte, als seine Flotte

Untergegangen war. Weinte sonst niemand?

Friedrich der Zweite siegte im Siebenjährigen Krieg. Wer

Siegte außer ihm?

Jede Seite ein Sieg.

Wer kochte den Siegesschmaus?

Alle zehn Jahre ein großer Mann.

Wer bezahlte die Spesen?

So viele Berichte.

So viele Fragen.

Neruda: Poem XVII from 'One Hundred Love Sonnets' (From Spanish)

Poem XVII from "One Hundred Love Sonnets"

By Pablo Neruda

Translated by A.Z. Foreman

Comissioned by Mary Reid Bogue 

I love you not as if you were a rose of salt, topaz

or arrow of fire-popagating carnations:

I love you with the love of certain darkling things,

in secret, in between the shadow and the soul.

I love you as the plant that does not flower but bears

within itself concealed, those flowers' light,  

and thanks to your love the tight aroma that arose

from earth lives on, and darkly, in my body. 

I love you knowing not how, nor when nor whence,

I love you straightforwardly with neither pride nor problem:

so do I love you because I know no other way to love, 

than in this form in which I am not and you aren't

so close that your hand on my chest is mine,

so close that your eyes close with my dream.

If you want to hear me read the original text, head on over here

The Original:

No te amo como si fueras rosa de sal, topacio
o flecha de claveles que propagan el fuego:
te amo como se aman ciertas cosas oscuras,
secretamente, entre la sombra y el alma.

Te amo como la planta que no florece y lleva
dentro de sí, escondida, la luz de aquellas flores,
y gracias a tu amor vive oscuro en mi cuerpo
el apretado aroma que ascendió de la tierra.

Te amo sin saber cómo, ni cuándo, ni de dónde,
te amo directamente sin problemas ni orgullo:
así te amo porque no sé amar de otra manera,

sino así de este modo en que no soy ni eres,
tan cerca que tu mano sobre mi pecho es mía,
tan cerca que se cierran tus ojos con mi sueño.

Florindo di Monaco: Macchu Picchu (From Latin)

This is one of my favorite Modern Latin short poems of all time, from a cycle of 10 poems titled 'Terrarum Mirabilissima Decem' (the title cannot be properly translated without being absurdly long-winded: 'Ten Things Most Wonderful From Around The World'.)

Machu Picchu
By Florindo di Monaco
Translated by A.Z. Foreman

Clouds are wreathed in rays as they blank the stars out,
Shining. Here all time for all time is silent.
Grasping for gods lie the uprisen boulders 
Muted in prayer.

Whither the statecraft of the elder kingdom?
Whither the vanished power of a people?
Mystery harrows the fleeting ages' coward
Hearts now and ever.

The Original:

Cacumina Andina “Alturas de Machu Picchu” dicta

Nūbium candēns prohibet corōna
astra mīrārī. Silet omne tempus.
Caelitēs mūtīs precibus sequuntur
ēdita saxa.

Quō facultātēs soliī suprēmī,
magna quō fūgit populī potestās?
Īnstat arcānum pavidīs fugācis
cordibus aevī.

Homeric Hymn to Ares (From Greek)

Hymn to Ares
(C. 2nd-4th century A.D.)
Translated by A.Z. Foreman

God-brawned Ares,　gold-helmed driver
of the chariot in the stars. 　Stout-souled shieldman
bronzed in armor! 　Bulwark of Olympus,
Guardian of cities　 and spear-potent
Father of Victory,　the fair war-dame!
Fear-harrowing　friend of Justice,
the righteous man's　commander in chief,
scepter-master 　 of manly good
wheeling Your fireball 　amid the wayfaring
planets' seven 　paths through cosmic
air where Your firesteeds　 forever bear You
over the thirdmost　orbit immortal.

Hear me, bequeather　of brave youth's bloom,
matchless ally 　of mortalkind,
blaze a gentle　beam from Your planet
straight into our life　with strength of war
to finally beat　the bite of cowardice
now and ever　from out my skull.

Give my mind clout　to crush the soul's
treacherous impulse,　help me temper
the spirit-furies　that spur me into
bloody mayhem,　and make me brave
enough to keep　within the kindly
laws of peace, 　O Lord of War. 
Help me flee the fray　of foul rancor,
and dodge the wraiths　of a violent death.

The Original:

Ἆρες ὑπερμενέτα, βρισάρματε, χρυσεοπήληξ,
ὀβριμόθυμε, φέρασπι, πολισσόε, χαλκοκορυστά,
καρτερόχειρ, ἀμόγητε, δορισθενές, ἕρκος Ὀλύμπου,
Νίκης εὐπολέμοιο πάτερ, συναρωγὲ Θέμιστος,
ἀντιβίοισι τύραννε, δικαιοτάτων ἀγὲ φωτῶν,
ἠνορέης σκηπτοῦχε, πυραυγέα κύκλον ἑλίσσων
αἰθέρος ἑπταπόροις ἐνὶ τείρεσιν, ἔνθα σε πῶλοι
ζαφλεγέες τριτάτης ὑπὲρ ἄντυγος αἰὲν ἔχουσι:
κλῦθι, βροτῶν ἐπίκουρε, δοτὴρ εὐθαρσέος ἥβης,
πρηὺ καταστίλβων σέλας ὑψόθεν ἐς βιότητα
ἡμετέρην καὶ κάρτος ἀρήιον, ὥς κε δυναίμην
σεύασθαι κακότητα πικρὴν ἀπ᾽ ἐμοῖο καρήνου,
καὶ ψυχῆς ἀπατηλὸν ὑπογνάμψαι φρεσὶν ὁρμήν,
θυμοῦ αὖ μένος ὀξὺ κατισχέμεν, ὅς μ᾽ ἐρέθῃσι
φυλόπιδος κρυερῆς ἐπιβαινέμεν: ἀλλὰ σὺ θάρσος
δός, μάκαρ, εἰρήνης τε μένειν ἐν ἀπήμοσι θεσμοῖς
δυσμενέων προφυγόντα μόθον Κῆράς τε βιαίους.