Dr Köbes
Et jitt ene Kähl, dä jeder kennt
Un dä mer in Kölle “Köbes” nennt.
Dat heiß eijentlich Jakob, doch su nennt mer se all.
Ob Schäng, ob Pitter, ob Hannibal.
Hä hät im Bräues et Regiment
un et es joot, wenn hä dich kennt.
Denn hä entscheidet im Fall der Fälle
üvver Kölsch, Halven Hahn un Frikadelle.
Em Sommer, em blaue Hemb adrett
en lange Schützel, dr Schlössel an dr Kett.
Im Winter en blauwülle Jack aanjedonn,
su sieht mer en dann am Zapphahn stonn.
He füllt hä die Stanje em zinnerne Kranz,
huh gezapp die Gläser em güldene Jlanz
Et Kölsch schümp huh, et leckere Bierche,
für Alt un Jung e äsch Pläsierche.
Un damit Temperatur un Geschmack deiht stemme
Deiht och dr Köbes jään e Jlas nehmme.
Dann luurt hä dr Gast an met treuem Bleck
un säht: “E besje kühl es et widder hück”.
Hä brängk dir dann Flöns oder Levverwoosch,
un Kölsch im Kranz , fresch für dr Doosch.
Doch wie un wann, dat es sing Saach
Dröm freu Dich, wenn dr Köbes laach.
Белеет парус одинокий
В тумане моря голубом…
Что ищет он в стране далёкой?
Что кинул он в краю родном?
Играют волны - ветер свищет,
И мачта гнётся и скрипит…
Увы, - он счастия не ищет
И не от счастия бежит!
Под ним струя светлей лазури,
Над ним луч солнца золотой
А он, мятежный, просит бури,
Как будто в бурях есть покой!
English Translation:
The Sail - Mikhail Lermontov
A lonely sail is flashing white
Amdist the blue mist of the sea!
What does it seek in foreign lands?
What did it leave behind at home?
Waves heave, wind whistles,
The mast, it bends and creaks
Alas, it seeks not happiness
Nor happiness does it escape!
Below, a current azure bright,
Above, a golden ray of sun.
Rebellious, it seeks out a storm
As if in storms it could find peace!
المسافات - أحمد بخيت
كأنك لا وكأني نعمْ
كأنا اقتسمنا الرضا والألمْ
متى نلتقي أه لو نلتقي
فكم يوجعُ الوردَ ألا يُشمْ
أنا لا أراك انا لا أرى سواك
ابتسمْ لي لكي ابتسمْ
ونَمْ تحتَ هدبي نوم َ الأميرِ
لكي تحرس الحُلمَ مَن لمْ تَنَمْ
مسافةُ ما بيننا قُبلةٌ وأنتَ زماني والعمرُ فَمْ
مقدَّسةٌ يا حبيبي الحياة وملعونةٌ حين تُهدي الندمْ
ولِدنا مع الحب كي نلتقيْ وأغلى الأماني التي لم تَتِمْ
أسيرُ على الماءِ،
أخطو على النارِ أصرخُ في الكونِ
لم يأتِ لمْ
وأرضى وأغضبُ
أبكي وأضحكُ مجنونةً بكَ ، كم غبتَ؟ كمْ؟
ونحن على موعدٍ دائمٍ في انتظارِ الكتابِ نحبُّ القلمْ
يكلفني الحبُّ ما لا يطيقُ من الشوقِ للحبِّ لحم ٌودمْ
لأني أقاتلُ شوقي إليك َ بشوقي إليك فلم أنهزِمْ
أناديكَ تزدادُ دقاتُ قلبي هل الحبُّ يُغري بهذا الكرمْ؟
إذا أنقصوا العُودَ أوتارَه فكم سوف يخسرُ هذا النغمْ؟
سلمتَ ارْمِني بسهامِ الحنانِ ولا ترمِ إحساسَ أنثى بسهمْ
فإن مشاعرَ قلبِ النساءِ محرمةٌ كحمامِ الحَرمْ
بِقَدْرِ الذي جرَّعتني الحياةُ من الحزنِ ياسيدي والسأمْ
بما بيَ مِن كامنٍ يغتلي بما بكَ ! مِن عاصفٍ يحتدمْ
أحب ُّ بقوةِ هذا الحنانِ وهذا الحنينِ وهذا الألمْ
@ Alexander:
MY STORIES BEGIN AS LETTERS
My pen is my wonderland.
Word water in my hand.
In my pen is wonder ink.
Stories sing. Stories sink.
My stories loop.
My Stories stop.
My pen is my wonder mop.
Drink letters.
Drink my ink.
My pen is blind.
I simply can’t bypass this particular thread without mentioning the Javanese poetic form named “macapat” (‘to read [maca] in groupings of four syllables [pat]’), which are sung poems composed in particular literary meters where each line has a specific syllable count and ends in a certain vowel. Take this example of the first stanza of the Serat Wedhatama, the poetic treatise by Prince Mangkunegaran IV of the Mangkunegara municipality of present-day Surakarta, Indonesia. This stanza is in the meter of Pangkur, which has seven lines with the following syllabic and final vowel schemes: 8A, 11I, 8U, 7A, 12U, 8A, 8I. Pangkur verses often depict scenes of violent passions or conflict.
Mingkar mingkuring angkara,
Distance yourself from desires
Akarana karenan mardi siwi,
Because desire will misguide the younger generations
Sinawung resmining kidung,
Through the beauty of the kidung poems
Sinuba sinukarta,
That is also very decorated
Mrih kretarta pakartining ngelmu luhung
With the goal of attaining perfection through studying esoteric knowledge
kang tumrap ning tanah Jawa,
That applies in the land of Java
Agama ageming aji.
Guiding the spiritual paths of its kings.
This was recorded during a live performance at the 2012 PKB (Bali Arts Festival).
I’m sorry I missed this–I hadn’t even heard of the conference on Friday!
I also write and translate poetry and I am reading through everyone’s posts here and loving it. Thanks so much everyone. Here is one of my all time favorite poems:
When some people talk about money
They speak as if it were a mysterious lover
Who went out to buy milk and never
Came back, and it makes me nostalgic
For the years I lived on coffee and bread,
Hungry all the time, walking to work on payday
Like a woman journeying for water
From a village without a well, then living
One or two nights like everyone else
On roast chicken and red wine.
For anyone who lived in NYC, it might look familiar–it used to be hung up in some of the subway cars!
~Nate
Seconding recommendation for “Poems from the Edge of Extinction” - an excellent anthology, a bit uneven, but how could it not be?
There are at least two great poetry MOOCs on Coursera: “Modern & Contemporary American Poetry” (Dickinson, Whitman and onwards; vibrant community; possibly the very best MOOC I took part in) and “Modern Hebrew Poetry” (also great but taught in Hebrew)
On Persian I would add Hafez and Omar Khayyam to the list of recommended classics; the first is the Poet for many Iranians (it’s often said that every family owns at least two books: the Holy Qur’an, and divan of Hafez), many layers of meaning, great stuff but tough to grasp. Khayyam in turn is short, easy to read, and accessible (though many translations are misleading). However, aside from classical poetry tradition (which is alive and kicking and much loved) there’s also equally great modern poetry - my personal favourite is Sohrab Sepehri
Other personal faves: Russian - Aleksandr Blok, Velemir Khlebnikov and so-called “Silver Age” in general; Hebrew - Natan Alterman; Armenian - Paruyr Sevak (I love “We are few but we are called Armenians…” which is probably his most famous poem); quite recently I discovered this Twitter account: @OldTamilPoetry and, through it, this beautiful poem
In my native language, Polish, it’s tough to limit myself to pointing out only a couple names; I can write a longer list of personal recommendations, should you be interested
Thank you, Alanood الـعـنـود and all of the participants for the great poetry session!
It was one of the highlights of the conference for me (although I only had limited time to explore) and I would be very interested in future poetry events.
@ivany78 It would be wonderful to have regular poetry readings in the Venus room. I will have to see if I can rustle up some of the folks in the #Celtic thread to share some as well. And @Alanood you were such a fabulous hostess!
And cheers to everyone who recited a poem! 