Listening to mortal tv and because today is the day after yesterday, we remembered a poem translated from the Chinese by Arthur Waley. And then we thought about something that is not entirely something else because we saw a headline that is probably already old.
Escuchando tele mortal y porque hoy es el día despues de ayer, recordamos un poema traducido del chino al inglés por Arthur Waley. Y luego pensamos en algo que no es del todo otra cosa porque vimos un titular que es probablemente viejo ya.
The Chinese Poem:
El Poema Chino:
Minister of War, we are the king´s claws and fangs,
Why should you roll us from misery to misery,
Giving us no place to stop in or take rest?
Ministro de la Guerra, somos las garras y los colmillos del rey
¿por qué nos haces rodar de miseria en miseria,
sin darnos un lugar en el que parar o descansar?
Minister of War, we are the king´s claws and teeth,
Why should you roll us from misery to misery,
Giving us no place to come and stay?
Ministro de la Guerra, somos las garras y los dientes del rey,
¿por qué nos haces rodar de miseria en miseria,
sin darnos un lugar al que venir y quedarnos?
Minister of War, surely you are not wise.
Why should you roll us from misery to misery?
We have mothers who lack food.
Ministro de la Guerra, está claro que no eres sabio.
¿Por qué nos haces rodar de miseria en miseria?
Tenemos madres que carecen de comida.
And the not altogether something else brought up by the headline:
Y la no del todo otra cosa a raiz del titular:
Somebody asked where are all the war poems gone?
Somebody would send a poet to Afghanistan?
The war poems? Alright, they can stay.
The wars? If we could ask, all answerless, where they were gone.
¿Alguien pregunto dónde están los poemas de guerra?
¿Alguien sugirió mandar un poeta a Afghanistan?
¿Los poemas de guerra? Vale, se pueden quedar.
¿Las guerras? Ojála nadie supiese dónde están.
When I visited Edinburgh, and that was a looong time ago, right at the start of the war with Iraq, the Second Gulf War I believe they call it, there were a few antiwar poems posted on the notice board of a public library near the seat of the Scottish Parliament. Among them was a beautiful one by a Chinese poet, which clearly stood up from the rest. I know I have it somewhere because I took the trouble to copy it right there and then. When I find it, I'll send it to you. Thank you for this one. Lovely blog. Keep up the good work.
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