Boerneef – vertaling in Engels
Boerneef – vertaal deur Tony Ullyatt
Six Songs for Yesteryear
1
The young green of an oak tree:
that is spring for me
add in a malachite sunbird
only then it is really spring
the profusion of the double green
is doubly glorious to the eye
it helps later for the sun’s burning
this green gladness for the eye
2
The rain pours at Koorsteenberg
the fig orchards and the karee trees drink
the rain greys at Koorsteenberg
the rain sieves down at Koorsteenberg
this year woolly sheep will plump up once more
and the buck wagon creak under the heavy load of wool
3
Listen to the partridges and the pheasants
singing partridgeandpheasant hosannas
first it was dry and the world grey
and dismal for pheasants and partridges
now it has rained
the veld is wet
the pheasants hoppityskip along my dear
all the partridges and pheasants
sing partridgeandpheasant hosannas now
4
My heart blossoms white
for the chestnut-haired girl
I pick heather of the reddest red
for this chestnut-haired girl
Bellabint my young girl
it is heart-blossom white
it is heather red
for you my chestnut-haired girl
5
Nothing hangs as red as vineyard leaves
at Hex River
nothing stands so yellow as the autumn poplars
along the Dwars River at Ceres
stand stock still hold your breath
and look long and reverently
as a person should look at such an autumn
let it burn in you for some later time
the warm yellow and red for times gone by
6
You are all alone
you live alone
and play your squeezebox on a Saturday night
some notes here
some notes there
a bit of pleasure on a moonlit night
no one knows a potion for loneliness later
you become quieter, quieter still
and later dead still
