Versindaba prys vir vertaalde gedigte (5)
Breyten Breytenbach. Vertaling van Afrikaans in Engels. Vert. deur Bester Meyer.
4.5 it is called grieving for the present
“Longing for ancient times and grieving for the present,
my heart is exhausted”
-Ryokan, “Reading the ‘Record of Eihei Dõgen’”
now you know what it is
to move onto death:
that everything and everyone and this and that
those here whom you have loved
without being aware of it
had to die
whilst you were still living
and now returning in music
the slightest leaf’s movement
between the look and the see
the rim of a slip-smile
over the craziness of life
now you know how it is
to move through this life:
that everything and everyone and this and that
that that there—the one whom you love
is not aware of it, but is aware
that they would live
whilst you are still dying
***
4.5 it is called grieving for the present
“Longing for ancient times and grieving for the present,
my heart is exhausted”
-Ryokan, “Reading the ‘Record of Eihei Dõgen’”
nou weet jy wat dit is
om dood te gaan:
dat alles en almal en dit en dié
hier vir wie jy lief was
sonder om daarvan bewus te wees
moes sterwe terwyl jy nog leef
en nou terugkom in musiek
die effense blaarbeweging
tussen kyk en sien
die randjie van ʼn gliplag
oor die malligheid van lewe
nou weet jy hoe dit is
om te lewe:
dat alles en almal en dit en dié
daardie daar vir wie jy lief is
nie daarvan weet nie maar wéét
hulle sal lewe terwyl jy nog sterf
Bronverwysing:
Breytenbach, B. 2019. op weg na kû. Human & Rousseau.