I just ran to the library and they had held a copy of Pasternak's book of poems, "My Sister, Life" for me. The public library is a wonderful thing. Do you have libraries in Iran?
It is a beautiful book full of his poetry, in both Russian and English, and teeming with pictures of Russia. What a book of Love! Here is a poem from this book that I thought you might like:
Hamlet
The roaring stops. I walk onstage.
I lean against the doorframe
And try to catch,like Hamlet,
The echo of all that will happen in my time.
The night stares darkly.
And a thousand opera glasses,
On their handles, stare. I implore you,
Abba, Father, take this cup away!
I respect your stubborn planning.
I agree to act this part,
But another play is now unfolding,
Take me off the stage tonight.
The sequences have been arranged,
It is the end, the road is running out.
I am alone among the PHarisees.
To live a life is not to cross a field.
3 comments:
Hi Sue, thanks for the beautiful poem. Here is another translation:
The murmurs ebb; onto the stage I enter.
I am trying, standing in the door,
To discover in the distant echoes
What the coming years may hold in store.
The nocturnal darkness with a thousand
Binoculars is focused onto me.
Take away this cup, O Abba Father,
Everything is possible to Thee.
I am fond of this Thy stubborn project,
And to play my part I am content.
But another drama is in progress,
And, this once, O let me be exempt.
But the plan of action is determined,
And the end irrevocably sealed.
I am alone; all round me drowns in falsehood:
Life is not a walk across a field.
Hi Ali, Thank you for showing us another translation. I prefer yours to the one I have. Who was the translator of your "Hamlet"? It is a lesson to us as we try to cross the bridge of language that the Tower of Babel still stands tall and can cause great confusion and even great disagreement.
Sorry Sue, I should have given the source in the first place. Here is the link: http://oldpoetry.com/opoem/30930-Boris-Pasternak-Hamlet which, if I am not wrong, cites Lydia Pasternak Slater - Pasternak's sister as the translator. If my understanding is correct she's got Pasternak's blood in her.
T
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