from O Pastor from The Shepherd

from O Pastor

       I 
 
Era um homem
      um homem
      um homem.
 
Depois da sua era
Será para sempre a lembrança
A versão de uma lenda terrível.
 
        II
 
Era um pastor que pastoreara
A grande promessa.
 
O pastor que conclamara
O horizonte e a agulha do astrolábio.
 
Era um pastor e sua trouxa de deserto.
 
Um pastor
e sua litania de queda e de nada.
 
       III
 
Da festa era a inapagável memória.
Era a gravata da demência no Equador.
Era o ar entupindo os poros das casas.
 
       IV
 
Ogun não sabia.
Algures alguém dormia.
Valsavam palácios em Kampala e Alexandria.
 
       V
 
Tombam dos galhos as bocas
- infaustos frutos -
e eis os abutres que arfam
 
Ei-los com zelo curvados
sobre um tapete de sonhos
 
Eis que goteja em seus crânios
um diadema de ventania e de trevas.
 
Eis as cinzas do relógio, as migalhas da bandeira.
 
O pastor semeia a morte
pelos poros do seu reino
e cólera alguma
tambor fumaça notícia
esconjura a azáfama da colheita.
 

We translated the first five sections of this seven-part poem.

from The Shepherd

       I
 
There was a man
                  a man
                  a man.
 
       II
 
After his time
There will always be the memory
a version of that terrible legend.
 
       III
 
There was a shepherd who shepherded
the great promise.
 
A shepherd who summoned
the horizon and the point of the astrolabe.
 
There was a shepherd and his bundle of desert.
 
A shepherd and his litany of falling and nothing.
 
       III
 
The inextinguishable memory of that festival.
The cravat of dementia around the Equator.
The air blocking the pores of the houses.
 
       IV
 
Ogun did not know.
Elsewhere someone was sleeping.
Palaces were waltzing in Kampala and Alexandria.
 
       V
 
Mouths fall from branches
- poor fruit -
and here vultures pant.
 
Here they fervently curve
over a carpet of dreams.
 
Here a diadem of gales and darkness
drips into their skulls.
 
Here are the ashes of the clock, the scraps of the flag.
 
The shepherd sows death
in the pores of his kingdom
no rage
drums smoke news
purges the harvest of its bustle.
 

We translated the first five sections of this seven-part poem.

This fascinating, powerful and ambiguous poem was a challenge (and a pleasure!) to translate. As Stefan mentions in his literal version, throughout the poem the phrase ‘There was’ can be heard which gives it the quality of a tale as it’s very close to ‘once upon a time’ and the poem is clearly a fable about a fallen (in both senses) political leader.

In part II, we changed ‘needle’ to ‘point of the astrolabe’ because astrolabe’s don’t have needles but they do have points.

We really struggled with section III. Firstly, whether to go with ‘party’ or ‘festival’ (we settled on the latter for its sense of a public occasion). And then with the line. ‘The cravat of dementia around the Equator’. We chose ‘cravat’ because it’s unambiguously a necktie (as opposed to just using ‘tie’) and then we decided it needed to go around the Equator, almost like a form of suffocation, which leads into the final line.

We were puzzled why palaces were waltzing in Kampala and Alexandria: why those two particular places?

Another set of problems emerged in the final lines of section V. On reflection, I wonder whether the lines, ‘no rage / drums smoke news’ should be in parenthesis between the first-person singular of ‘The shepherd sows death…’ and ‘purges the bustle of the harvest.’ What do you think?

from The Shepherd

       I
 
There was a man
                  a man
                  a man.
 
After his era
There will always be the memory
The version of a terrible legend.
 
[‘There was' - ‘Era' is repeated in the poem:.. - it is like the start of story, but not quite the full ‘era uma vez' which is ‘once upon a time'; ‘era' = ‘there was' but also ‘[it] was'‘[he] was']
 
        II
 
There was a shepherd who had shepherded
The great promise.   [pastoreara .. promessa alliteration]
 
The shepherd who had invoked
The horizon and the astrolabe's needle. [..ara ending in l. 1 and 3 rhyme]
 
There was a shepherd and his bundle of desert. [trouxa - bundle of clothes; package; also: a fool, sucker]
 
A shepherd
and his litany of fall and of nothing.
 
       III
 
Of the party there was the inextinguishable memory.
There was the tie [ie necktie] of dementia on the Equator.
There was the air blocking the pores of the houses.
 
       IV
 
Ogun did not know.
Elsewhere someone was sleeping.
Palaces were waltzing in Kampala and Alexandria.
 
[Ogun / Ogum is a warrior deity in Yoruba / Haitian / Afro-Brazilian religion]
 
       V
 
Mouths fall from branches
- unfortunate fruit -  [ill-omened / unfortunate / unlucky]
and here are the vultures panting
 
Here they are fervently curved  [keenly / fervently / jealously]
over a carpet of dreams
 
Here is dripping into their skulls
a diadem of gale and of darkness.
 
Here are the ashes of the clock, the crumbs of the tray.
 
The shepherd scatters the seed of death
in the pores of his kingdom
and no rage
drum smoke news
exorcises the bustle of the harvest.
 

We translated the first five sections of this seven-part poem.

Original Poem by

Conceicao Lima

Translated by

Stefan Tobler with The Poetry Translation Workshop Language

Portuguese

Country

São Tomé and Príncipe