Sunday, January 15, 2012

Osip Mandelstam (Poet)

Osip Mandelstam,  Jewish-Russian poet: January 15, 1891 - 1938 (murdered in Stalin’s death camp in Vladivostok)…
Illustration: David Levin
Alone I stare into the frost’s white face.
It’s going nowhere, and I—from nowhere.
Everything ironed flat, pleated without a wrinkle:
Miraculous, the breathing plain.

Meanwhile the sun squints at this starched poverty—
The squint itself consoled, at ease … 
The ten-fold forest almost the same …
And snow crunches in the eyes, innocent, like clean bread.
                                                              — January 16, 1937
(Translated by John High and Matvei Yankelevich)

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

I cover the waterfront






I cover the waterfront
Watchin' the ship go by
I could see everybody's baby
But I couldn't see mine
I could see the ships pullin' in
To the harbor
I could see the people
Meeting their loved one
Shakin' hand
I sat there
So all alone
Coverin' the waterfront

And after a while
All the people
Left the harbor
And headed for their destination
All the ships
Left the harbor
And headed for their next destination
I sat there
Coverin' the waterfront

And after a while
I looked down the ocean
As far as I could see - in the fog
I saw a ship
It headed this way
Comin' out the foam
It must be my baby
Comin' down
And after a while
The ship pulled into the harbor
Rollin' slow
So triple (?)
And my baby
Stepped off board
I was still
Coverin' the waterfront

Said "Johnny,
Our ship had trouble - with the fog
And that's why we're so late
So late
Comin' home
Comin' down"

Sunday, January 1, 2012

Wishes for a new year


May you see
a beetle deliberately
unfolding his aerodynamics;
a tomato seedling
triumphantly thrusting his arms
into the sunlight,
clasping the husk of his seed
like an afterbirth;
may you see
the baleful eye of the barbet
soften as he watches you
placing out a chicken carcass;
a brave little bubble
in your glass of Chardonnay
fighting entropy
and at last giving up
with a small hiccup;
may you see
your beloved's eye unveiled
by a sleepy eyelid,
and see reflected time
tiptoeing backwards
to a moment jointly held in joy.

May you see the yacht
you are sailing in
run before the wind of time
towards the misty blue line
of unexplored yesterdays.

De Waal Venter
(South-African poet)