Two Translations

Two Translations

By Anselm

 

Sappho, Fragment 96.6-11

νῦν δ™ Λύδαισιν ἐμπρέπεται γυναί-
κεσσιν ὤς ποτ' ἀελίω
δύντος ἀ ™ροδοδάκτυλος †μήνα
πάντα περέχοισ' ἄστρα· φάος δ' ἐπί-
σχει θάλασσαν ἐπ' ἀλμύραν
ἴσως καὶ πολυανθέμοις ἀρούραις·

Among the girls of Lydia she seems to shine
As when the sun has fallen
And the rosy-fingered moon
Embraces all the stars, and starlight lingers
On the ocean brine
And on the fields with blossoms strewn.

Virgil, Aeneid, 6.847-853

excudent alii spirantia mollius aera
(credo equidem), uiuos ducent de marmore uultus,
orabunt causas melius, caelique meatus
describent radio et surgentia sidera dicent:
tu regere imperio populos, Romane, memento
(hae tibi erunt artes), pacique imponere morem,
parcere subiectis et debellare superbos.

True, some with tender touch will forge the gasping bronze,
I know, and cast incarnate faces in the stone,
And better plead our origins, with pens to trace the dawns
And routes of heaven and the stars which rise alone:
But as you rule the world with arms, O Rome, recall
(These arts are yours), and bring an age of peace for all,
To spare the vanquished and the proud in war dethrone.

 

 

(Some egregious liberties taken, especially with the Virgil.)

 

Lost Translation

 

Hail to Caesar now, Zeig Heil

Noble Eagle Standard flies,

Schutzstaffel in midnight legion

Disciplined long stabbing knives.

Heil to goose stepped march precision

Noble Eagle Standard soars,

Centurian’s in closed division

Screaming stukas strafe azores.

Fist to leather armour snapping

Stiff arms high in thronged salute,

Hail to Caesar sing the Legions

Zeig Heil Waffen SS brute.

Discipline of Shield defences

Stabbing lances follow swords

Clouds of arrows fill the heaven

Dachau’s ovens roast the hoards.

Winged Aquila flies the column

Wielded high as Roman’s would,

Black and white with red blood running

Swastikas where Jews once stood.

Europe caste in corpses rotting

Women screaming in the land,

Deutsch and Roman locked forever

Destroyers both, in history’s hand.

 

 

Marshalg

In response to Anselm’s “Two Translations”

25 March 2013

On a cool and dry Autumn afternoon.

Reviews

[Coyote Poetry]

Thank you for the translation of the poem. I like to read poetry from other places. Story and myth is different in each part of our world. I had to read the poem a few times. A lot of history and question brought to life in the words. A outstanding poem.
Coyote