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    AC Benus
  • AC Benus
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  • 05/03/2018
  • 340 Words
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  • 26 Comments
Poetry posted in this category are works of fiction. Names, places, characters, events, and incidents are created by the authors' imaginations or are used fictitiously. Any resemblances to actual persons (living or dead), organizations, companies, events, or locales are entirely coincidental.
Note: While authors are asked to place warnings on their stories for some moderated content, everyone has different thresholds, and it is your responsibility as a reader to avoid stories or stop reading if something bothers you. 

Translation Trashbin - 11. Eva

  

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I worked on Ein alter Tibetteppich a year ago, and posting it afresh made me consider just how sensual and extraordinary it is. I asked Lyssa if she could point me in the direction of a few more Else Lasker-Schüler poems, and amongst the three she sent was this one. First published in 1905, it was a bold (read 'fearless') expression of same-sex love between the poet and her companion, Eva. However, as is so often the case, the oppression of the majority won out, and by the poem's first reprint in 1917, a spurious and nonsensical dedication of the poem to a man was awkwardly, parenthetically placed below the title by the publisher, or the bullied poet herself. Anyway, here is my translation of the original poem, and I'm proud to say it has Lyssa's blessing :)

 

 

------------------------

     

Eva

von Else Lasker-Schüler

 

Du hast deinen Kopf tief über mich gesenkt,

Deinen Kopf mit den goldenen Lenzhaaren,

Und deine Lippen sind von rosiger Seidenweichheit,

Wie die Blüten der Bäume Edens waren.

 

Und die keimende Liebe ist meine Seele.

O, meine Seele ist das vertriebene Sehnen,

Du liebzitterst vor Ahnungen –

... Und weißt nicht, warum deine Träume stöhnen.

 

Und ich liege schwer auf deinem Leben,

Eine tausendstämmige Erinnerung,

Und du bist so blutjung, so adamjung ...

Du hast deinen Kopf tief über mich gesenkt –

 

 

------------------------

 

Eva

by Else Lasker-Schüler

 

I watch you lower your head close to mine,

Your head with the golden braids of a bride,

And with your lips of rose, silky softness,

Out blooming trees in Eden's garden-side.

 

And germinating love is my spirit.

The displaced desire contained in my soul,

Causing trembles where our loves inhabit –

...Your moans crossing the edge of self-control.

 

For I weigh heavily where hearts reside,

A thousand-strong memory of the blameless,

And you, fresh as the fruit Eden supplied...

I watch you lower your head close to mine –

 

 

_

Copyright © 2018 AC Benus; All Rights Reserved.
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Poetry posted in this category are works of fiction. Names, places, characters, events, and incidents are created by the authors' imaginations or are used fictitiously. Any resemblances to actual persons (living or dead), organizations, companies, events, or locales are entirely coincidental.
Note: While authors are asked to place warnings on their stories for some moderated content, everyone has different thresholds, and it is your responsibility as a reader to avoid stories or stop reading if something bothers you. 
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AC Benus

AC Benus 36,635

Posted (edited)

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13 minutes ago, MacGreg said:

Beautiful poem and translation, AC. I wonder how anyone could believe the smokescreen of a male lover? Golden braids of a bride aside, the title alone clearly points to a certain gender. 

 

Thank you for sharing this. 

Thank you, Mac. I appreciate the comments.

 

I agree, that with the title and the internal tenderness of the poem (dare I say, an energy of active seduction), it only fits as one woman interacting with another. The line you mentioned was one of the more challenging to do. She wrote "goldenen Lenzhaaren," which literally means "golden hair of springtime." I interpreted that as the braids of a bride, but perhaps the image of braids stuck with flowers is what the poet hoped people would see; either way, there's no way Else intended to portray a man that way ;) 

 

Thanks again.

 

Edited by AC Benus
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AC Benus
On 5/5/2018 at 9:03 AM, Parker Owens said:

This is a wonderful, moving poem. I am very grateful you translated it for those like me, whose gifts do not lie that way. It is powerful and appeals to so many senses. There is no mistaking the lover for a male here; why did anyone think such a dedication would be given credence?

Thank you, Parker. I appreciate you sharing your thoughts. This poet really appeals to me; she has a way with sensuality that appeals directly to my soul. I think we are kindred spirits :) 

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mayday
On 5/5/2018 at 6:03 PM, Parker Owens said:

There is no mistaking the lover for a male here; why did anyone think such a dedication would be given credence?

I guess at that time it would be "safer" for the poet to hide her real meaning. But in the original there is a reference to Adam (adamjung = as young as Adam), which, of course, could also be taken to mean anything else like human being, innocent, young to the world, living in paradise...

And I know it takes a lot of thought to suddenly recognize the loved one as of the same sex when that thought had never entered your head before...

 

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AC Benus
14 minutes ago, mayday said:

I see your point, but the title could be mistaken for the speaker, too, not only for the one addressed...

I'll answer this comment first, as I've been thinking about what you say. Not a test or anything, but can you name any poem named after the poet (or character of the speaker, as you say)? Because I can't think of a single one.... All I keep seeing is the ice-free library and Omar Sharif not writing "Laura" at the top of the page, but titling a love poem to himself as "Doctor Zhivago" :)

   

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AC Benus
43 minutes ago, mayday said:

Thank you so much for making me aware of these two wonderful poems. I had never come across the original and it speaks to me on so many levels.

Thank you, mayday, for finding them! Else Lasker-Schüler is represented fairly well already in this collection of translations. That is due to @Lyssa making the introductions. Based on her body of work, there is no doubt Else empathized with men in love, as she treated it as a subject often. When it comes to same-sex affection among women, there seem to be far fewer. "Eva" is one such, and very erotic and open. As of yet, Lyssa has only tracked one other where Lasker-Schüler "makes love" (in the old poetic sense) to another woman. But it is also remarkably sensual, explicit and open about how two women are attracted to one another.

 

Thanks again for reading. I really appreciate it!

 

Edited by AC Benus
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AC Benus

Oh, I just was chatting with Lyssa about it, and she has this update to make :)

 

-----

 

I have two other poems [beside Eva and Die Königin], which have the theme of same-sex love between women, but they are not that kind of sensual or with a sexual connotation.

They are more about the emotions.

From Else of course

 

Lyssa

 

 

Edited by AC Benus
mayday
22 minutes ago, AC Benus said:

I'll answer this comment first, as I've been thinking about what you say. Not a test or anything, but can you name any poem named after the poet (or character of the speaker, as you say)? Because I can't think of a single one.... All I keep seeing is the ice-free library and Omar Sharif not writing "Laura" at the top of the page, but titling a love poem to himself as "Doctor Zhivago" :)

   

there is this poetic tradition called dramatic monologue from the 19th century where the person making up the title is either the topic or the speaker: the person in the title is the topic in "Der Erlkönig" by Goethe or "My last Duchess" by Robert Browning; the speaker as in "Zauberlehrling" by Goethe or "Fra Lippo Lippi" by Robert Browning - if I am right...

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