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    AC Benus
  • AC Benus
  • Author
  • 02/22/2023
  • 315 Words
  • 233 Views
  • 6 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. 

a Glass Floor Underfoot - 33. horseplay

.

An Jacob van Hoddis

 

Wir lügen Spiel von wortgeblümten Fühlen

Und Liebe. Mit kaum wahrgenommenen Beben

Und, wenn die Abendgärten sich beleben,

Wandern wir auch, ein zärtlich Paar, im Kühlen.

 

Wenn wir zu den verborgnen Lieblings-Plätzen

Moosbänken, tief im Walde, heimlich wandern,

So glauben wir – wie stolz auf solche Schätzen –

Zwar kaum uns selbst, doch beinah schon dem Andern.

 

Wenn sich bei Tisch Hand oder Knie treffen,

Werden wir rot, wie wirklich im Verlieben;

Doch keiner merkt, daß wir einander äffen,

Daß diese Zwei sich nur im Schauspiel üben.

 

Denn wohl ist uns doch einzig im Café

Wenn wir bei Vermouth, Mocca und den frischen

Pariser Waffeln in der Ecke sitzend,

Die Schweinchen-Verse des van Hoddis lesen.

 

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

 

 

To Jacob van Hoddis

We tease out a game of florid emotions

And horseplay. With barely acknowledged trembling,

And as parks at night freshen our devotions,

We stroll an endeared pair in the cool evening.

 

When we steal off to our loved, unknown places

Of mossy banks, deep woods, brother to brother,

We believe – proud that such a loving trove is –

Though scarcely ourselves, yet almost the other.

 

When hands and knees at table randomly link,

Do we blush like we’re really falling in love;

None note we’re goading the other, for they think,

‘Those two’ but rehearse a comedy thereof.

 

That’s why only in the Café we relax,

Where we discuss vermouth and mocha like this,

Ensconced in a corner with waffles in stacks,

Nibbling the unkosher verse of Van Hoddis.

 

 

spacer.png          spacer.png

 

Jacob van Hoddis (Hans Davidsohn) Robert Jentzsch

(both circa 1910)

 

 

 

 

_

Copyright © 2022 AC Benus; All Rights Reserved.
  • Love 3
 
 
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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Chapter Comments

Backwoods Boy

I love this picture of two people genuinely in love, both their interactions and their awareness of the observations of others.  And the pictures make them more real to us.

I played my "translator game", and am in awe as to how you juggle the meter, meaning, rhythm and rhyme and make it all come out so smoothly and seamlessly.  I think this one may have been more difficult than some, and I wonder how many hours you labored over it.

  • Love 3
AC Benus
On 2/22/2023 at 1:53 PM, Backwoods Boy said:

I love this picture of two people genuinely in love, both their interactions and their awareness of the observations of others.  And the pictures make them more real to us.

I played my "translator game", and am in awe as to how you juggle the meter, meaning, rhythm and rhyme and make it all come out so smoothly and seamlessly.  I think this one may have been more difficult than some, and I wonder how many hours you labored over it.

Thank you, Jon, for your kind support. I saved this poem for last because of its deep intimacy, which can be a bit of a rare thing in Expressionistic poetry. 

As for being a challenge, the use of Schweinchen in the last line had me debating up to the last minute which term to use in English. Although meaning "piglet," it's the broader implications of the word -- which are both playful and dismissive in equal parts -- that had me settle on what I did.

Thanks again ❤️

Edited by AC Benus
  • Love 1
AC Benus
On 2/22/2023 at 2:39 PM, Parker Owens said:

You take us into another, intimate painting, a love-scape, written by Jentzsch, but brought to bright new life in your translation. This is like going to a museum and seeing a masterwork restored for our eyes and time.

Thank you, Parker. The museum analogy is very beautiful. At least I have tried to bring a wonderful Jentzsch 'painting' before English-speaking eyes. Hopefully I have succeeded to do the poet some justice.

Thanks again

  • Love 1
AC Benus
On 2/22/2023 at 8:54 PM, raven1 said:

A beautiful poem.  It is timeless in its description of love, focusing on the simple, common experiences of all humans.  Thanks for the work you do to bring these to us.

Thank you, Terry. I agree totally with your assessment of this poem being timeless; Jentzsch has illustrated moments from everyone's young love experiences. It can be appreciated almost universally for that.

Thanks once more 

  • Love 1
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