Antjie Krog
From the serie "Where I Become You". In Afrikaans and English. Read the rest at Poetry International. There you also find recordings of the poems read by the poet in this fascinating language.
Toen uw vel schreeuwde vatten mijn beenderen vuur.
1.
jy kom my omhaal
aan die anderkant van die wêreld
jou roep hoor ek
bibbernagblou en ge-
blind aan stralende gebeentes
by jou my snerpende kop
onwillig behaar
geuromgord
begin jy die ek uit die self knoop
die onskendbare eens
laat jy los in vele
uit-mekaar-uit-neer-sit
losmakend die een stuk uit die ander
sodat die verbintenisse voortvouend
blyk in die ondraaglik meeskrywende a-
sem ongekloofde rose
om uit-
mekaar-te-haal
die ek
van die ook-ek
die jy
van die byna-
jou-in-my
hoor, sê jy, hoe on-
naspeurbaar treur
die dieptesig van liefde
2.
jou vokale sterf by my verby
so naby dat dit ek
kon gewees het
oneindig die statiese lading van sterre
wat spetterend snags boeie aan ons slaan
maar jy wat ek kon gewees het
maar nog nie was nie, jy skuifel
hardnekkig skif jy tot toebedeelde veelsaamheid
elke blaar wat val
val alleen, weerlê ek
jou gesig knars tot stilstand
ek wil
die ek wat ek is
bly
maar waar
begín
die issende-ek?
op die plek
waar die ek soos jy is
of daar waar die ek anders as jy is?
my tong word doof
jou oë kirr uit die oogholtes van die verlorenes
net ’n asemlek blink
granaatpitblink
tussen waar ek-is is
en jy-nie is
ek vergaan – grint in die keel
jou vokale sterf hier verby
so naby
dat my ooglid aan jou liefde smee
From the serie "Where I Become You". In Afrikaans and English. Read the rest at Poetry International. There you also find recordings of the poems read by the poet in this fascinating language.
Where I Become You
Toen uw vel schreeuwde vatten mijn beenderen vuur.
1.
jy kom my omhaal
aan die anderkant van die wêreld
jou roep hoor ek
bibbernagblou en ge-
blind aan stralende gebeentes
by jou my snerpende kop
onwillig behaar
geuromgord
begin jy die ek uit die self knoop
die onskendbare eens
laat jy los in vele
uit-mekaar-uit-neer-sit
losmakend die een stuk uit die ander
sodat die verbintenisse voortvouend
blyk in die ondraaglik meeskrywende a-
sem ongekloofde rose
om uit-
mekaar-te-haal
die ek
van die ook-ek
die jy
van die byna-
jou-in-my
hoor, sê jy, hoe on-
naspeurbaar treur
die dieptesig van liefde
Where I Become You
When your skin screamed my bones caught fire.
1.
you come to win me over
at the other end of the world
I hear your call
shivering night blue and blindly
bound by radiant bones
with you my head bitingly cold
unwillingly hairgrown
scentgirded
you begin to unfasten the I from the self
the inviolable once
you let loose in many
separating-laying-side-by-side
loosening one piece from another
so that the bonds seem incessantly to unfold
in the unbearably co-writing
breath of unsundered roses
to dis-
mantle
the I
from the also-I
the you
from the almost-
you-in-me
listen, you say, how un-
fathomably it grieves,
the profoundness of love
you come to win me over
at the other end of the world
I hear your call
shivering night blue and blindly
bound by radiant bones
with you my head bitingly cold
unwillingly hairgrown
scentgirded
you begin to unfasten the I from the self
the inviolable once
you let loose in many
separating-laying-side-by-side
loosening one piece from another
so that the bonds seem incessantly to unfold
in the unbearably co-writing
breath of unsundered roses
to dis-
mantle
the I
from the also-I
the you
from the almost-
you-in-me
listen, you say, how un-
fathomably it grieves,
the profoundness of love
2.
jou vokale sterf by my verby
so naby dat dit ek
kon gewees het
oneindig die statiese lading van sterre
wat spetterend snags boeie aan ons slaan
maar jy wat ek kon gewees het
maar nog nie was nie, jy skuifel
hardnekkig skif jy tot toebedeelde veelsaamheid
elke blaar wat val
val alleen, weerlê ek
jou gesig knars tot stilstand
ek wil
die ek wat ek is
bly
maar waar
begín
die issende-ek?
op die plek
waar die ek soos jy is
of daar waar die ek anders as jy is?
my tong word doof
jou oë kirr uit die oogholtes van die verlorenes
net ’n asemlek blink
granaatpitblink
tussen waar ek-is is
en jy-nie is
ek vergaan – grint in die keel
jou vokale sterf hier verby
so naby
dat my ooglid aan jou liefde smee
2.
your vowels die passing me
so close that I
could have been the one
endless the static cargo of stars
that sputtering in the night shackles us
but you that I could have been
but was not yet, you shuffle
stubbornly you sift to bestowed profusion
each leaf that falls
falls alone, I counter
your face grinds to a halt
I want
the I that is I
to stay
but where
does it begin,
this being-I?
at the place
where the I is like you
or there where the I is other than you?
my tongue goes deaf
your eyes coo from the sockets of the lost ones
just a breathlick of light
pomegranate pip light
between where I-am is
and not-you is
I decay – grit in the throat
your vowels die passing
so close
that my eyelid welds itself to your love
////////////////your vowels die passing me
so close that I
could have been the one
endless the static cargo of stars
that sputtering in the night shackles us
but you that I could have been
but was not yet, you shuffle
stubbornly you sift to bestowed profusion
each leaf that falls
falls alone, I counter
your face grinds to a halt
I want
the I that is I
to stay
but where
does it begin,
this being-I?
at the place
where the I is like you
or there where the I is other than you?
my tongue goes deaf
your eyes coo from the sockets of the lost ones
just a breathlick of light
pomegranate pip light
between where I-am is
and not-you is
I decay – grit in the throat
your vowels die passing
so close
that my eyelid welds itself to your love
And a video from artist Gert Vlok Nel in Afrikaans as well.
Posts
Excelente, linda Nicoletta.
ReplyDeleteJL