Versindaba kompetisie vir vertaalde gedigte (80)
Saaleha Idrees Bamjee. Vertaling van Engels in Afrikaans. Vert. deur Elmarie Viljoen-Massyn
Vlegsels
Dogtertjies word in die steek gelaat
deur ons wat geen
opsies aan hulle bied nie. Dink
aan die verspilling van ʼn vlegsel,
getrek en
geolie en
ge-Love-in-Tokyo.
God het aan ons die kennis
van ʼn skêr gegee.
Om te dink ek sou so vry kon wees
soos Abdul oorkant die straat.
***
Plaits
Saaleha Idrees Bamjee
We fail little girls by not
presenting them
with the alternatives. Think
of the waste that is a plait,
pulled and
oiled and
Love-in-Tokyo’d.
God handed down to us
the knowledge of scissors.
To think I could have been as free
as Abdul from across the road.
Bronverwysing:
Bamjee, Saleeha Idrees. “Plaits”, Zikr: Poems. Cape Town: Uhlanga, p. 35.
Saaleha, sodra die wenners van die kompetisie bekendgemaak is, sal die name van alle vertalers by hulle vertalings verskyn.
Thank you for uploading this wonderful translation. I’ve posted a recording of my reading the afrikaans here:
https://soundcloud.com/saaleha-bamjee/vlegsels-saaleha-idrees-bamjee-vertaling-van-engels-in-afrikaans
Let me know who the translator is so I can credit them.