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    AC Benus
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Stories 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.
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Translation Trashbin - 28. Shakespear in seinen Sonetten

Work from a German Romantic poet this time. The only published translations in English of this poet are pointedly obscured to hide his themes of same-sex love. A poem like the following is now officially "un-obscured."

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Translation of

Shakespear in seinen Sonetten

by August von Platen

 

 

Shakespear in seinen Sonetten[[i]]

 

Du ziehst bei jedem Loos die beste Nummer,

Denn wer, wie du, vermag so tief zu dringen

In's tiefste Herz? Wenn du beginnst zu singen,

Verstummen wir als klägliche Verstummer.

 

Nicht Mädchenlaunen störten deinen Schlummer,

Doch stets um Freundschaft sehn wir warm dich ringen:

Dein Freund errettet dich aus Weiberschlingen,

Und seine Schönheit ist dein Ruhm und Kummer.

 

Bis auf die Sorgen, die für ihn dich nagen,

Erhebst du Alles zur Apotheose,

Bis auf den Schmerz, den er dich läßt ertragen!

 

Wie sehr dich kränken mag der Seelenlose,

Du läsest nie von ihm, und siehst mit Klagen

Den Wurm des Lasters in der schönsten Rose.

 

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

 

Shakespeare in his Sonnets

 

With him always, you play your ace in the hole,

For who but you penetrates so deep each time

As you pull all your stops and deploy your rhyme,

Hushing us like mutes while you your songs unroll.

 

No girlish whims rustle your sleep and cajole,

Because in friendship you wrestle hot in your prime:

Your friend saves you from the female paradigm,

While his beauty’s the fame and grief of your soul.

 

You’ve power to lift all to its apogee,

Except the nagging sorrows in you he sows;

Except the pain for him you bear by decree.

 

You won’t leave him, ever going where he goes,

And though the soulless shall ever sicken thee,

You’ll lament for their vice in the fairest rose.

 

 

_

 


[i] Shakespear in seinen Sonetten” August von Platen Gedichte (Stuttgart 1828), p. 172

https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_Zvg-AAAAIAAJ/page/n177/mode/2up?q=

 

 

Copyright © 2018 AC Benus; All Rights Reserved.
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Stories 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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You were kind enough to share this in draft; this is fantastic! Thank you for applying your skill to this translation. 

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On 7/28/2021 at 10:27 AM, Parker Owens said:

You were kind enough to share this in draft; this is fantastic! Thank you for applying your skill to this translation. 

@Parker Owens Thanks for your comments and support, Parker. I really appreciate it

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