Dear readers,
I am glad to publish below the first translation of Shapiro's poems that had been presented during our workshop ("After Asturiana").
Here's what Natalia Michalec wrote about her translation:
'In the process of translation, I had two main goals in mind: to maintain the sense (or rather my interpretation of the poem) and the structure of rhymes. As my work progressed, I realized that in order to reach my first goal, I must abandon, at least partially, the second one. That is why in the first part of the Polish translation the rhymes are present, whilst the last four lines don’t rhyme at all. I have, however, succeeded in accomplishing my first goal – a lesson that in translation one must be willing to make sacrifices and be able to decide what’s important and what’s not. A similar lesson came with my attempt to preserve the rhymes in the seventh and eighth line. To do so, I have initially translated three different verbs ("to lift”, "to carry”, "to bounce”) to just one – "unosić (się)”. After some discussion, I have realized that the meaning of these verbs is too diverse to translate it so simply. "To carry” became "odlatywać” and "to bounce” – "balansować”, but the tenses have been changed from past to present so I could keep the rhymes while capturing the nuances between these verbs.
In summary, I have learnt that the literary translation process is not easy. There are so many aspects to take into consideration, even while working on such a short piece.
With that in mind, I am somehow proud of the final product and willing to learn more about the difficult craft of literary translation'.
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Na podstawie pieśni asturyjskiej
Na drodze do drzwi
Na ścieżce do okna
Nie dojrzałem ni duszy
Tylko pył w zawodach
Unoszony przez wiatr
Co był jak żeglarz dowcipny
Nic w nic odlatuje
Żeglarz balansuje
Na soli świata: Teraz tańcz!
Teraz tańczysz jak świat
Nic równa się niczemu jak słowo
Gubię się i popełniam błędy na twą cześć.
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