Saturday, 7 March 2009

she could be






she could be flotsam
tossed up
from a troubled sea
washed ashore
her hair black weed
her fingers
fragile anchors
dug into the sand

she could be sleeping
numbed into slumber
by the drowsy sun
as the shore steals
upon her
the salt water
seeping into her
landlocked flesh
and with a flick
of her tail
she is no longer
beachbound
but a sea creature
mer-woman
whose song entrances
the strongest sailor

or she is a swimmer
dragged herself back
exhausted, to shore
and spent, spreads
her arms wide
not sleeping
not dreaming
but listening
to the great pulse
of the sea
as it washes
back and forth
back and forth
through her



swiss (she could be)




pare să plutească
purtată de mare
până la ţărm
aruncată pe plajă
spălată de apă
alge pletele-i negre
mâinile ancoră
subţire-n nisip


pare să doarmă
furată de malul
fără sfârşit
legănată-n vis
de un soare moale
de sarea-nflorind
în carnea ei
devenită pământ
coada ei caldă
c-o unică lovitură
o poate întoarce
în apă oricând
femeia mării
renaşte vrăjind
vajnicul călător


ori a înotat poate
până în zări
pe mal obosită
s-a-ntins să audă
departe de somn
departe de vis
s-asculte doar
marele ritm
al mării cea mare
cum trece prin ea
val după val
înainte înapoi
înapoi înainte

pare să

(my translation)



Note:

I had posted this picture before but I wasn't happy with it and I took it down soon afterwards. Little did I know that swiss had already spotted it :-) inspired by it, he wrote this poem, that I did my best to translate into Romanian. More important than the images themselves, I think what matters here most is the rhythm imitating the waves, and I tried to get this 'sound' right (repetitions and alliterations being a precious way to achieving that). I am pretty satisfied with the result :-) and open to suggestions. And grateful to swiss, but he already knows it.

21 comments:

  1. The poem written by Swiss is definitely beautiful. it has a rhythm, it mirrors the photo. of course i cannot read your translation. the photo is quite good.

    do you mind if i write a few lines on it too?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Merci pour ta visite :)
    Encore un très beau cliché, avec une ambiance NB très réussie !
    Je te souhaite un très bon dimanche !
    A bientôt !

    ReplyDelete
  3. Her hair, neck and back are so beautiful.. it's a real torture for a man for no chance of touching her.. nontheless I can smell her.. :p

    ReplyDelete
  4. nicely done, roxanne. lovely poem and pic.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Before I got to Swiss' name at the end I thought I was reading a Sorlil poem!
    x

    ReplyDelete
  6. kubla, thank you... this is one of the greates joys of blogging, this kind of shared creativity and the inspiration one can give and find in others...

    ReplyDelete
  7. Merci Tibo... un beau dimanche pour toi aussi, et surtout une belle semaine avec des images inoubliables :-)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Peter, you mean you can smell the weeds and the shells and the salt of the waves? :-) (and now I get nostalgic of the sea)
    but of course she is beautiful, all sirens are :-) or the selkie, who is a kind of scottish siren, as swiss taught me:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selkie

    ReplyDelete
  9. sorlil, I am glad you like it, I know you had read the poem before on elvis, but maybe you didn't know the background...

    ReplyDelete
  10. really, Rachel? what do you think of that, Sorlil? :-) I think some images could be Sorlil's, but the rhythm is definitely the swiss rhythm :-)

    ReplyDelete
  11. Emese, ma bucur ca-ti place, desi nu are suavitatea aceea a clar-obscurului din pozele tale :-)

    ReplyDelete
  12. lol, yes definitely swiss's rhythm. I love the fingers as fragile anchors and would be very pleased with myself if I'd written this.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Sometimes I agree to myself that half of the human population on earth are silens whichever they called.. :p (Your shots are great and I love them!! I like your pedagogic approach for the enlightenment of me kind of naive person. And, as you perceive, I really enjoy the conversation btn us over the photos.)

    ReplyDelete
  14. oh, it's so easy to guess that I am a teacher? :-) how awful!!!
    but thank you anyway, Peter :-P no, I mean really thank you for your nice words about my pictures (with or without sirens).

    ReplyDelete
  15. La proposition est une image de la réalité dans cette danse état de grace choses que tu represente ou pas avec sagesse.

    ReplyDelete
  16. i'm very happy. even if my pronunciation is a shocker!

    but even then it means i see different things. look i say, as we try to guess the words, look at all the smiley 'a's!

    ReplyDelete
  17. m-am pierdut in ea.
    fascinant.
    nu pot spune mai mult.
    ma inclin deci....

    ReplyDelete
  18. swiss, the "smiley 'a's", this has really made me smile :-)
    and of course my curiosity has increased as to that mp3 you have promised me :-)

    ReplyDelete
  19. dan, multumesc de trecere, ma bucur ca ai gasit in ea ceva care sa-ti vorbeasca...

    ReplyDelete
  20. Siam, merci pour me faire penser a 'etat de grace', I will add 'grace' to the tags for this post, I have a 'grace' label because it is such an important concept for me...
    (oh, maintenant j'ai change de langue sans m'appercevoir, mais tu comprends les deux :-)

    ReplyDelete