Versindaba kompetisie vir vertaalde gedigte (57)
Gus Ferguson. Vertaling uit Engels in Afrikaans. Vert. deur Elza Lorenz.
Vir Bob Dylan se verjaardag
‘ n Dylan-vers staan wars op die blad
Herinner aan ‘n mankolieke koutjie
Wat kletter in die wind, en kreun
Maar budgie is reeds vort. Wanneer Bob praat
Is hy adenities, laringities
Sy stem verstom almal stil tot krities,
En sy bekfluit steur en tart,
Is insinuerend.
Sy metriek is ook besonder slap,
Sy ryme dikwels ongemaklik pap.
Maar sy songs is pure duiwe, vry en
Ongehok. Elkeen wat hom hoor is mal :
Stem saam die geheim is
Waar sy klem gaan val
Laat ons van gebrek en rym vergeet
En sy meesterlike tyd en plek beleef.
***
For Bob Dylan’s birthday
Gus Ferguson
A Dylan poem upon the page
Reminds one of a broken cage
That rattles in the wind and creaks.
The bird has flown. When Bobby speaks
He’s adenoidal, laryngitic.
His voice confounds his every critic,
And, like his mouth-harp, irritates –
It hectors and insinuates.
His prosody is very slack,
His awkward rhymes are often hack
But his songs are like the uncaged dove
Referred to in line four above
And everyone who hears agrees
The secret’s in the emphases.
So let’s forget about his faults and rhyming
And celebrate impeccable timing.
Bronverwysing:
Ferguson, Gus. 2003. From GUS FERGUSON’s Arse Poetica, Musings on Muse Abuse. Roggebaai: Kwela Books, First Edition, page 21.