Versindaba
~ 'n Weblog vir die Afrikaanse digkuns ~

 

Versindaba kompetisie vir vertaalde gedigte (33)

 

Percy Bysshe Shelley. Vertaling van Engels in Afrikaans. Vert. deur Ollie Olwagen.

 

 Osteologika

(Met apologie aan Percy Bysshe Shelley)

 

Ek vind ’n swerfling van die rou Gariep

Wat sê: Twee vaal verweerde vere dop

Omhoog uit sand langs die rivier so diep.

Daar naby krap ’n lunsriem aan sy kop

Verwagtend, maar meer dom as dominant

Van frons en lip, asof jy in sy oë kan lees

Van al die merries wat gestempelmerk

Sou neerslag vind in sy verwarde gees.

En uit sy mond sou hierdie woorde skal:

“My naam is Dog en vere plant my werk,

Want hoenders wil ek kweek en dis maar Al.”

Niks verder meer. Die somber plek.

En by die vent wei luiters langs die wal

’n kaal kapokkie wat sê “kôk” en “kêk”.

 

***

 

 Ozymandias

Percy Bysshe Shelley

 

I met a traveller from an antique land

Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone

Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,

Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,

And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,

Tell that its sculptor well those passions read

Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,

The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed:

And on the pedestal these words appear:

“My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:

Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!”

Nothing beside remains. Round the decay

Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare

The lone and level sands stretch far away.

 

Bronverwysing:

Shelley, Percy Bysshe. 1818. Ozymandias. Published in 1818 in the 11 January issue of The Examiner in London.

 

 

 

Versindaba kompetisie vir vertaalde gedigte (31)

 

William Wordsworth. Vertaling van Engels in Afrikaans. Vert. deur Ollie Olwagen.

 

Ek wandel soos ’n wolk van rook

(Met apologie aan William Wordsworth)

 

Alleen het ek gewandel soos

Die rook wat hang bo my Tokai

Toe sien ek in die swart S’doos

Die groot getoi-toi in die baai.

Die lywe wieg, die taaiers brand,

Die tone boor diep in die sand.

 

Aaneen, aaneen soos sterre skyn

En flonker aan die hemelband,

Strek hul in eindelose lyn

Maar gitswart aan die baai se kant:

Tienduisend grypend na die kans

Om kop te ruk en woes te dans.

 

Die golwe langs hul dans ook vry,

Maar vryer nog die freedom-skaar —

’n Digter kan hom nooit verbly

Om soveel gramskap te ervaar.

Ek staar — en staar — maar sou nie dink

Dat soveel weedom daar sou wink.

 

Want dikwels later op my bed,

In mymeringe min of hoog,

Flits weer die dag van rou verset

 

Die trap-trap voor my geestesoog;

Dan dans ek saam, steeds weer en weer,

En nou’s my voete vreeslik seer.

 

 

***

 

 

I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud

William Wordsworth

 

I wandered lonely as a Cloud

That floats on high o’er Vales and Hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd

A host of golden Daffodils;

Beside the Lake, beneath the trees,

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

 

Continuous as the stars that shine

and twinkle on the Milky Way,

They stretched in never-ending line

along the margin of a bay:

Ten thousand saw I at a glance,

tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

 

The waves beside them danced, but they

Outdid the sparkling waves in glee: –

A poet could not but be gay

In such a jocund company:

I gazed – and gazed – but little thought

What wealth the show to me had brought:

 

For oft when on my couch I lie

In vacant or in pensive mood,

They flash upon that inward eye

 

Which is the bliss of solitude,

And then my heart with pleasure fills,

And dances with the Daffodils.

 

Bronverwysing:

Wordsworth, William. 1807. Poems. London: Longman, Hurst, Rees & Orme.