The grandfather had been a conventional elder,
who was buried in a gaiter and a coat
and the grandmother - a pale girl who died giving birth to her
the father made some ballads;
they tell that he had a spyglass to look at what was far.
From there - the hand folds the page of the book,
and the history of the great-great-granddaughter ends with a stab in the womb:
there are destinies on hold, handkerchiefs warm from tears,
some incest, a violation on an old sofa. -
When the hand folds the page, there is a blood track on the wooden floor.
This is the youngest of the five.
Notice that her bosoms are as snow that we never saw
and nobody ever saw the father who gave her a son;
and the son of this girl is this young mourning man.
Now turn the page and look at the angel he possessed,
see that mantle on a pure shoulder,
and these eyes that seem to contemplate clouds
through the ancient spyglass.
See that without the photographer noticing
the curtains give the impression of impressive faces
on the back of the photograph:
a student wearing a goatee and another a cape.
Notice the arms, which nobody knows to whom they belong,
surrounding the chest of the young woman
wanting to take her to an oblique place.
Match well your eyes with your ear to listen to the heavy breath,
the shouts, the oaths… The black skirt looks like a death bell
and the cleavage is the ship that took her away
forever. And this water like background
may well be the sea
or the photographer's tears
Notes
This is the #25 part of the long poem Announcement and Encounter of Mira-Celi.
To read the original in Portuguese click here
http://oldpoetry.com/opoem/show/123962-Jorge-Mateus-de-Lima-As-pessoas-De-Mira-Celi--Album-de-familia-
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Comments
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Shouldn't the word be "destinies"? I looked at the translation and found numerous problems with it. You wouldn't be buried in a "gaiter" for instance, because gaiters are a type of legging and they come in pairs. "Bosoms" would be either the singular "bosom" or the plural, "breasts", but no, not "bosoms" - not in English, unless you are saying something comedic. There are other problems with the grammar and tense changes, and so on. I don't know Portuguese and can't translate this firsthand even if I had access to the original but this just strikes me as being very poorly translated and awkward and distracts from my enjoyment of the poem. I'm not trying to be mean, but shouldn't there be some checks and balances put in place here at OP when it comes to translation? A basic level of fluency would be nice.
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Ahh, erudite discourse... destinies is one way, "destines" is in the dictionary.com list of words and the meaning seems sufficient, as does the word "bosoms"... perhaps one needs a translation of english to english... the language is full of words someone invented last week for a rock'n roll song and such, must be hard to keep up!
[bosoms http://www.allwords.com/word-bosoms.html] says there it is the plural of bosom...go figure!!
at any rate, i think this poem is quite a wonderful example of the artistry of de Lima, the translation reveals the remarkable depth of this writer and these comments reveal the shallow minded magnification of minutiae; there is art here that is far more important than anything else said here...
especially from a source that does not know Portuguese, nor has even seen the original poem, is not an translator of the language...geez...
there is really nothing to go on... [ it's like when they asked McCain about viagara and medicare...]
I don't know enough about translation to condemn someone's efforts, thank goodness it is not even in me to think about doing that...I spoke to an expert once, but as with you, it really didn't help me at all either... so i will be content to read and hopefully learn, and perhaps set a good example for good manners in comments on OP...PK
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Be some checks and balance? This isn't the first translation I have done for OP, neither is Portuguese the only language I translate to English. To have all the translations checked would require a team of polyglots standing by, maybe we should suggest that to Kevin.
The typo you caught was indeed something that I, Yem and PK oversaw, thanks for pointing it.
Jorge de Lima isn't an easy poet to translate, and I, just as with every other poet I translate, try to stay loyal to the poet's work. I will never trade feelings for meter or rhymes, even if the original poems have meter and rhyme. Yes, you should be able to read Portuguese to judge the translation with accuracy. Your point has been taken though, by the MOD's and by the translator.
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From guest poetryality (contact)
This so reminds me of the memories we share as a family when we all get together on holidays, at weddings, and yes...funerals. My family is huge and when you add those who have adopted themselves to us it is even larger. I love the words written here. "Notice the arms that nobody knows to whom they belong surround the chest of the young woman wanting to take her to an oblique place." Those lines leaped from the page and reminded me of the times my youngest son simply a hug and reassurance. Excellent! Renee
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From guest Malmadre (contact)
I like that he includes those snippets of information about the individual people, so that we know a bit of their personality and their standing. Old photographs reveal very little, with their unsmiling faces and clothing donned for the sitting, which was most likely their Sunday best. I wonder if the original was written in a certain form or if it rhymed at all, would the original have been spanish? so much can be lost with translation. -
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The original doesn't rhyme nor has any kind of form. The format is just the same as you see here. The original language is Portuguese not Spanish, the author is a Brazilian poet.
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De Lima, such power in the imagery, cutting to fundamentals of life: love, moral decency, obsession and the eye that sees all of the outside and tears for what is on the inside; the world becomes transparent in this photograph. The eye that sees within and finds waters, mysteries in the backdrop and tears. I enjoy this writer, the imagery seems to run from the minute details to great generalities that we all ponder... this could not have been an easy translation, so much going on, some subtle things needing background research too i think, so this is a special gift of the translator's effort...excellent poetry and translation...PK
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Maybe I need to read the other parts to better understand this poem. There's definitely a somber tone, a portrait of lives, of a family, of an unspeakable act, a tragic album, it's like flipping through Lima's album and, as he sees a photo, he relates the story behind it...or memories associated with that photo in his mind.
"...the cleavage is the ship that took her away"
I think that is symbolism, or a metaphor for the incestuous act maybe? And not a literal voyage...where her going away was her youth, happiness, maybe even more...maybe suicide even. Though of course I could be wrong about all of that.
Intriguing, amazing poem. Thank you Mariza Goes, without your translation I would have been looking at a bunch of squiggly words I couldn't understand.
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