Versindaba kompetisie vir vertaalde gedigte (54)

 

Charles Bukowski. Vertaling van Engels in Afrikaans. Vert. deur Hendrik J. Botha.

 

Om ‘n glimlag te onthou

 

ons het goudvisse gehad wat in die rondte swem

in ‘n bak op die tafel naby die venster met swaar gordyne.

my ma, altyd met ‘n glimlag, het van ons verwag

om gelukkig te wees: “wees gelukkig, Henry!’

en sy was reg: dis beter om gelukkig te wees, as jy kan.

my pa sou haar en my slaan, male sonder tal

terwyl hy worstel met die vuur wat hom van binne brand.

 

my ma, arme vis,

wou net gelukkig wees:

“glimlag, Henry, waarom glimlag jy nooit?”

 

en sy sou glimlag om my te wys hoe,

en dit was die hartseerste glimlag ooit.

 

een dag was al vyf die goudvisse dood.

hulle het op die water gedryf,

oë nog oop.

toe my pa tuiskom het hy hulle vir die kat gevoer,

sommer daar op die kombuisvloer, terwyl ons toekyk hoe my ma

glimlag.

 

***

 

A Smile To Remember

Charles Bukowski

 

 we had goldfish and they circled around and around

in the bowl on the table near the heavy drapes

covering the picture window and

my mother, always smiling, wanting us all

to be happy, told me, ‘be happy Henry!’

and she was right: it’s better to be happy if you

can

but my father continued to beat her and me several times a week while

raging inside his 6–foot–two frame because he couldn’t

understand what was attacking him from within.

 

my mother, poor fish,

wanting to be happy, beaten two or three times a

week, telling me to be happy: ‘Henry, smile!

why don’t you ever smile?’

 

and then she would smile, to show me how, and it was the

saddest smile I ever saw

 

one day the goldfish died, all five of them,

they floated on the water, on their sides, their

eyes still open,

and when my father got home he threw them to the cat

there on the kitchen floor and we watched as my mother

smiled

 

 Bronverwysing:

Bukowski, Charles. 2007. The Pleasures of the Damned, Poems 1951–1993 (p15) New York: Harper Collins