For more than 1,000 years ago; not as long ago as it seems. #amazonlink to Irish poet Seamus Heaney's Selected Poems 1988-2013: https://amzn.to/3Oyb3xk from Beowulf / translated from the Old English by Seamus Heaney No counsellor could ever expect fair reparation from those rabid hands. All were endangered; young and old... {important information for you for the #amazonlink: as an Amazon affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases}
Translation
DPF / Follain
For plumage and threads, from Selected Translations, by W.S. Merwin.
from Absence / by Jean Follain (1903-1971, French)
one leaf taking wing
only the man has to know how long it will take
DPF / Myrddyn
For the drowning books, from Selected Translations, by W.S. Merwin.
from Yscolan / by Myrddyn (Welsh, ca. 6th century)
I am Yscolan the seer
my thoughts fly they are covered with clouds.
DPF / Rudel
For nightingales and first wild roses, from Selected Translations, by W.S. Merwin.
from Song / by Jaufre Rudel (French, early-mid 12th century)
may it bring joy to all who listen
through Peitau Berry and Garonne
as far as Brittany in the end
DPF / Otero
For doctors, from Selected Translations, by W.S. Merwin.
from On This Earth / by Blas de Otero (Spanish, 1916-1979)
(Chest
shaped like
Spain.)
Get lots of air, the doctor
told me
DPF / Tomasa Rivera
For simple things, from Mouth to Mouth: Poems by Twelve Contemporary Mexican Women, edited by Forrest Gander.
from Untitlted / by Silvia Tomasa Rivera (b. El Higo, Veracruz, 3.7.1956), translated by Janet Rodney
It’s something much simpler,
like opening a window and touching that luminous spot
bursting in the cup of your hands.
DPF / Daio
For startled monkeys, from Selected Translations, by WS Merwin.
from I have had a companion on the road / by Daio (1235-1308)(translated 1977, from the French version by Masumi Shibata)
by nature the mountains are green
by nature the water is clear
midnight has passed
this nature is not known
DPF / Anonymous (Tzeltal, Tenejapa)
For every heart in Tenejapa, from Selected Translations, by WS Merwin.
from Story of the Eaters / by Anyonymous (Tzeltal, Tenejapa) 1971, from a literal translation by Katherine B. Branstetter’s informant Santiago Mendes Zapata
Those who pray and burn candles to God himself
So the eaters won’t eat them.
DPF / Šalamun
For red flowers, from Poetry, May 2015. A brief biography of the poet may be found here:
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/tomaz-salamun#poet
from Ships / by Tomaž Šalamun
If bees rushed into my face, I’d scratch
at them with my hand and would see
again.
DPF / Anonymous (Catalan)
For that bad dream I had last night with its own burial scene, from Selected Translations, by WS Merwin.
from The Corpse-Keeper / by Anonymous, Catalan, post-Renaissance
I change the shirt on him
Every holiday of the year.
I have anointed his face
With roses and white wine.
Daily Poetry Fragments {Semi-Daily} 