[from Poems of Fernando Pessoa translated by Edwin Honig and Susan M. Brown]
Autopsychography
The poet is a faker. He
Fakes it so completely,
He even fakes he's suffering
The pain he's really feeling.
And they who read his writing
Fully feel while reading
Not that pain of his that's double,
But theirs, completely fictional.
So on its tracks goes round and round,
To entertain the reason,
That wound-up little train
We call the heart of man.
James Dickey said that poetry is the right word, beside the right word (OK: he probably said it more eloquently than that). Translating poetry is understanding the right word and all its possible contextual permutations across the span of another culture, another mindset, another vision of a different train that has a different sound and smell as well as a different conductor. Carol manages to show us both the train AND the conductor. Wow.
ReplyDeletethis is hilarious. I always knew it!
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