Refugees in a rubber boat off Lesvos: image via MSF Sea @MSF_Sea, 8 February 2016
Escrituras de luz embisten la sombra, más prodigiosas que meteoros.
La alta ciudad inconocible arrecia sobre el campo.
Seguro de mi vida y de mi muerte, miro los ambiciosos
y quisiera entenderlos.
Su día es ávido como el lazo en el aire.
Su noche es tregua de la ira en el hierro, pronto en acometer.
Hablan de humanidad.
Mi humanidad está en sentir que somos voces de una misma penuria.
Hablan de patria.
Mi patria es un latido de guitarra, unos retratos y una vieja espada,
la oración evidente del sauzal en los atardeceres.
El tiempo está viviéndome.
Más silencioso que mi sombra, cruzo el tropel de su levantada codicia.
Ellos son imprescindibles, únicos, merecedores del mañana.
Mi nombre es alguien y cualquiera.
Paso con lentitud, como quien viene de tan lejos que no espera llegar.
Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1996): Jactancia de quietud, from Luna de enfrente, 1925
Syrian children Musa Dik, 5, in the rear bed, and Raghad Dik, 9, in a hospital in the border town of Kilis, Turkey, after they were injured in a Russian airstrike: photo by Bryan Denton for The New York Times, 8 February 2016
Rajaa Dik, a Syrian, right, sat with her children Musa, 5, in the rear bed, and Raghad, 9, in a hospital in the border town of Kilis, Turkey, after they were injured in a Russian airstrike: photo by Bryan Denton for The New York Times, 8 February 2016
Serious traffic jam on the back roads of beautiful #Lesvos this morning.: image via MSF Sea @MSF_Sea, 8 February 2016
Jorge Luis Borges: Boast of Quietness
Writings of light assault the darkness, more prodigious than meteors.
The tall unknowable city takes over the countryside.
Sure of my life and death, I observe the ambitious and would like to understand them.
Their day is greedy as a lariat in the air.
Their night is a rest from the rage within steel, quick to attack.
They speak of humanity.
My humanity is in feeling we are all voices of that same poverty.
They speak of homeland.
My homeland is the rhythm of a guitar, a few portraits, an old sword,
the willow grove's visible prayer as evening falls.
Time is living me.
More silent than my shadow, I pass through the loftily covetous multitude.
They are indispensable, singular, worthy of tomorrow.
My name is someone and anyone.
I walk slowly, like one who comes from so far away he doesn't expect to arrive.
(English version by Stephen Kessler, 1999)
Refugee crisis: 35 die off Turkish coast: image via dromografosNews @dromografosNews, 8 February 2016
Siege of Aleppo takes West even further from achieving its key goals in Syria: image via AFP news agency @AFP, 9 February 2016
Syrians living in a makeshift camp inside a farm near the Oncupinar crossing gate in Kilis. By @Kilicbil #AFP: image via AFP Photo Department @AFPphoto, 9 February 2016
#migrantcrisis A woman waits to return to #Syria at the Oncupinar crossing gate, #Kilis, #Turkey #AFP by @Kilicbil: image via Aurelia BAILLY @AureliaBAILLY, 8 February 2016
Sorry kids, @realDonaldTrumpsays no, after all you might be terrorists (photo by @kilicbil): image via Kaycee Nightfire Aurelia BAILLY @KcNightfire, 8 February 2016
Syrian families line-up waiting to go back to Syria near Kilis. By @Kilicbil #AFP: image via AFP Photo Department @AFPphoto, 8 February 2016
#UPDATE Turkey sends in aid for stranded Syrian refugees: image via AFP news agency @AFP, 8 February 2016
Syrians fleeing Aleppo arrived at the Turkish border-crossing gate in northern Syria on Saturday. A United Nations report found that the Syrian government had mounted a “systematic and widespread attack” on civilians.: photo by Bulent Kilic/Agence France-Presse, 8 February 2016
Syrians trying to cross into Turkey.: photo by Bunyamin Aygun/Associated Press, 8 February 2016
This futuristic fighter jet was just unveiled to America during the #SuperBowl #SB50: image via Dan Lamothe @Dan Lamothe, 7 February 2016
Newton was harassed by Broncos defenders all night: photo by Chang W. Lee / The New York Times, 8 February 2016
Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton was sacked six times and fumbled twice against the Denver Broncos on Sunday: photo by A J Mast for The New York Times, 8 February 2016
Newton did not have much to say during his post-game news conference: photo by Kevin C. Cox / The New York Times, 8 February 2016
Beyoncé and Chris Martin of Coldplay during the Super Bowl halftime show on Sunday: photo by Chang W. Lee / The New York Times, 8 February 2016
Beyonce takes US by storm with new activist role: image via AFP news agency @AFP, 9 February 2016
Republican presidential candidate Sen. Marco Rubio sips coffee before doing a television interview at Norton’s Classic Cafe during a campaign stop in Nashua, New Hampshire: photo by Chip Somodevilla via FT Photo Diary, 8 February 2016
Nepalese Hindu women cover themselves with a plastic sheet, and take shelter from the rain, during the Swasthani Bratakatha festival in Kathmandu: photo by Nepal: photo by Niranjan Shrestha/AP Photo, 8 February 2016
A wounded boy at a hospital after he was injured in ongoing conflict, in Sana’a, Yemen: photo by Yahya Arhab/EPA, 8 February 2016
Waves break against the Boulogne-sur-mer harbour pier, France: photo by Philippe Huguen/AFP, 8 February 2016
#WAVES break against a pier in Les Sables-d'Olonne. #AFP Photo by @LoicVenance: image via Aurelia BAILLY @AureliaBAILLY, 9 February 2016
Rioters throw bricks at police in the Mong Kok district of Hong Kong. Hong Kong’s Lunar New Year celebration descended into chaotic scenes as protesters and police clashed over a street market selling fish balls and other local holiday delicacies: photo by Vincent Yu/Ap, 8 February 2016
Russian cosmonaut Sergei Volkov performs a spacewalk outside the International Space Station: photo by Roscosmos/Reuters, 8 February 2016
Estacio de Sa samba school’s Drum Queen Luana Bandeira performs during the carnival parade at the Sambadrome in Rio de Janeiro: photo by Sergio Moraes/Reuters, 8 February 2016
Carnival revellers dressed as “Peliqueiros” run along a street in Spain’s northwestern village of Laza. “Peliqueiros”, or ancient tax collectors, pursued villagers through the streets ringing their cowbells and hitting villagers with their sticks: photo by Miguel Vidal/Reuters, 8 February 2016
An Indian man searches for coins offered by Hindu devotees at Sangam during the annual Magh Mela festival in Allahabad: photo by Sanjay Kanojia/AFP, 5 February 2016
MEXICO - A municipality worker fumigates a home to prevent the spread of Zika in Acapulco: image via AFP Photo Department @AFPphoto, 9 February 2016
Protected by a mosquito net, Nadia Gonzalez recovers from a bout of dengue fever at a hospital in Luque, Paraguay. Dengue, like the Zika virus, is transmitted by the same vector, the Aedes aegypti mosquito: photo by Justin Sullivan via FT Photo Diary, 5 February 2016
A girl paints a mural that educates people about a mosquito control project in the village of San Diego village, in La Libertad, Salvador. People in San Diego are fighting the Aedes aegypti mosquito, vector of the Zika virus: photo by Marvin Recinos/AFP, 5 February 2016
A cat shelter on the outskirts of Yangon. The shelter houses over 200
animals which are rescued from Yangon streets. The shelter provides
food and basic medical treatments.: photo by Ye Aung Thu/AFP, 5 February 2016
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton walks on stage during a break as she debates with U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) during their MSNBC Democratic Candidates Debate at the University of New Hampshire in Durham, New Hampshire. This is the final debate for the Democratic candidates before the New Hampshire primaries: photo by Justin Sullivan via FT Photo Diary, 8 February 2016
Woman who accused Bill Clinton of assault to campaign against Hillary: image via Reuters Top News @Reuters, 9 February 2016
Senator Bernie Sanders at the Palace Theater in Manchester, N.H., on Monday: photo by Todd Heisler/The New York Times, 9 February 2016
Senator Bernie Sanders held a campaign rally at Franklin Pierce University in Rindge, N.H., on Saturday. As the United States is battling the Islamic State, and coping with an aggressive Russia and an economically weakening China, Mr. Sanders has steadfastly refused to say much about America’s place in the world.: photo by Todd Heisler/The New York Times , 8 February 2016
A street food vendor walks in front of a colorful graffiti in Bangkok, Thailand. Thailand’s economy is forecast to grow at 3.7 percent in 2016 revised down from earlier projected of 3.8 percent driven by the private consumption and investment as well as government stimulus measures and billion-dollar investment in infrastructure project, according to the Fiscal Policy Office: photo by Diego Azubel/EPA, 3 February 2016
Gendarmes walk through makeshift shacks during the evacuation of a Roma migrants’ camp deemed insecure and unsanitary, on former railway tracks along Boulevard Ney in northern Paris: photo by Dominique Faget/AFP, 3 January 2016
Thousands of Indian Hindu devotees gather to perform rituals at the Sangam, the confluence of rivers Ganges, Yamuna, and the mythical Saraswati on Mauni Amavasya or new moon day, the third and the most auspicious date of bathing during the annual month long Hindu religious festival Magh Mela in Allahabad, India: photo by Kumar Singh/AP, 8 February 2016
Siria: esodo da Aleppo. Ue richiama Turchia sui confini: "Accogliere rifugiati è dovere": image via la Repubblica @repubblicait, 6 February 2016
Turkey prepares for huge refugee wave as Syrians flee govt attack #AFP: image via Agence France-Presse @AFP, 6 February 2016
FBI confirms Hillary Clinton email investigation: image via Yahoo News @YahooNews 9 February 2016
Donald Trump in New Hampshire on Monday: photo by Damon Winter/The New York Times, 8 February 2016
At thriving gun clubs across New Hampshire, good
people strive to be as lethal as bad ones: image via NYT Opinion
@nytopinion, 9 February 2016
View of a figure of the Santa Muerte (Holy Death) at a sanctuary in Santa Maria Cuautepec, Tultitlan, Mexico: image via Yuri Cortez @YuriYurisky, 9 February 2016
Donald J. Trump held a town hall event at the Derry-Salem Elks Lodge in Salem: image via the New York Times @nyt, 9 February 2016
Hillary Clinton spoke with patrons at the Chez-Vachon restaurant in Manchester, N.H., on Monday: photo by Richard Perryr/The New York Times, 9 February 2016
Syrian Air Force destroys large rebel convoy heading to northern #Aleppo #Syria: image via Al-Masdar News @TheArabSource, 9 February 2016
#FSA Jaysh al-Mujahdeen send reinforcements to #Aleppo: image via Stork @NorthernStork, 9 February 2016
In #Aleppo, underground schools face bombardments and burnout: image via Al Arabiya English @AlArabiya_Eng, 7 February 2016
the plain sense of things
............ "we had come to an end of the imagination"
and all the major
and minor
structures fallen down
. breathe
every few seconds
then wait
then breathe again
all through the night
but no -- I'm not on
or under
fire in
or fleeing
Aleppo
or floating on a drifting rubber boat
on the dark cold sea
off Lesvos
Pedestrians are reflected in a stock market indicator board in Tokyo. Japan's market plummeted following sharp declines in US stocks and after crude oil prices tumbled below 30 dollars per barrel: photo by Franck Robichon/EPA, 3 February 2016
Global stocks hit the rocks after Asian markets slump: image via Reuters Top News @Reuters, 9 February 2016
Costumed revellers in protective helmets throw oranges during Carnival in the northern Italian Piedmont town of Ivrea, Italy: photo by Luca Bruno/AP Photo 9 February 2016
Crowds gather as a sperm whale lies dead after becoming stranded on a beach between Old Hunstanton and Holme in Hunstanton, England. The whale is the 29th to have died after beaching in Europe in the past two weeks: photo by Ben Pruchnie via FT Photo Diary, 5 February 2016
TURKEY - A Syrian woman holds a baby as she waits with others to return to Syria near Kilis. By @Kilicbil: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardafp, 8 February 2016
4 comments:
Two wonderful poems this morning, Tom. Many thanks.
I had a go at Borges’ Boasting of Stillness.
Writings of light attack the shadows, more prodigious than meteors.
The high unknowable city rages over the countryside.
Certain of my life and my death, I watch the ambitious ones
and would like to understand them.
Their day is eager, like a ribbon in the wind.
Their night is a truce from an iron fury, soon broken.
They speak of humanity.
My humanity is to feel we are voices of the same need.
They speak of homeland.
My homeland is the beat of a guitar, some portraits and an old sword,
and the invocation of the willow grove at dusk.
Time is living me.
More silent than my shadow, I cross against the greedy, rushing mob.
They are the essential ones, unique, deserving of the future.
My name is someone and anyone.
I pass through slowly, like one who comes from so far away that he doesn’t expect to arrive.
Hazen,
And not for the first time over the past eight years of thick and thin, it is a case of Hazen Robert Walker to the rescue.
At a quarter to three or so in the too-old morning, I was still tinkering with my own stuttering attempt at a translation of the Borges.
Then I realized you might be willing to give it a try, and that your hand in this line of work, guided by a lifetime of experience, is surer than mine... and threw in the towel.
One place in particular where the improvement feels central:
More silent than my shadow, I cross against the greedy, rushing mob.
replaces
More silent than my shadow, I pass through the loftily covetous multitude.
That perhaps sacrifices a bit of the irony but has the great advantage of bringing the poem forward into the present, with just the right degree of shock, and it also has the virtue of sounding a good deal more natural or "sayable".
I was reminded of the streets of downtown San Francisco on Super Bowl weekend -- not so much a loftily covetous multitude as a greedy, rushing mob.
Happy to be of service. I was moved strongly by the ideas contained in Borges’ original, and wanted to share those ideas with friends. Like your poem, Borges is speaking to the plain sense of things. Those billion dollar futuristic jets are anything but plain or ‘sensical’, and can’t even hold their own against older Russian fighter planes. All around a great post, Tom.
Yes---both poems are truly excellent, and Hazen's translation is especially good. It's amazing how poems stay alive, in a permanent present tense to which their creators don't have access.
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