Thanks, Hessie. I think of Guy Butler's translation as a tribute to great
poet and poem.
Baba
"Hessie" <bouwer@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
news:1147791883.178728.49480@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Eugene Marais
O koud is die windjie
en skraal.
En blink in die dof-lig
en kaal,
so wyd as die Heer se genade,
lê die velde in sterlig en skade.
En hoog in die rande,
versprei in die brande,
is die grassaad aan roere
soos winkende hande.
O treurig die wysie
op die ooswind se maat,
soos die lied van 'n meisie
in haar liefde verlaat.
In elk' grashalm se vou
blink 'n druppel van dou,
en vinnig verbleek dit
tot ryp in die kou!
WINTER'S NIGHT (Translated by Guy Butler)
---------
O Cold is the slight wind
and sere.
And gleaming in dim light
and bare,
as vast as the mercy of God,
lie the plains in starlight and shade.
And high on the ridges,
among the burnt patches,
the seed grass is stirring
like beckoning fingers.
O tune grief-laden
on the east wind's pulse,
like the song of a maiden
whose lover proves false.
In each grass blade's fold
a dew drop gleams bold,
but quickly it bleaches
to frost in the cold!
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