Ovako sam mislio: pošto blogeri vole poeziju, opet sam preveo pesmu, ovaj put to je jedna koju sam čitao prilično davno, mislim da sam tada bio student i da su Idoli bili u ranoj fazi...pominjem to jer su mi se neke slike iz pesme isprepletale s nekim događajima i sa nekim stihovima iz tog perioda. Mislim da sam u to vreme spremao anatomiju i da je bila zima slična ovoj sad. Odvratan period. Pesmu sam našao u nekakvom štampanom materijalu koji je potom netragom nestao. Ali sam zapamtio naslov i neke elemente...Sinoć sam se toga setio, pronašao pesmu na netu i preveo je.
E sad...ona je malo komplikovanija nego neke prethodne. Nisam siguran da moje skromne prevodilačke sposobnosti dosežu neophodan nivo. Zato sam mislio da svoj prepev, ovde, ponudim kao predložak, a voleo bih da mi date ispravke i da konkretno predložite eventualna bolja rešenja za pojedine reči, stihove ili strofe.
What was the promise that smiled from the maples at evening?
What was the promise that smiled from the maples at evening?
Smiling dim from the shadow, recessed? What language of leaf-lip?
And the heels of the fathers click on the concrete, returning,
Each aware of his own unspecified burden, at sun-dip.
In first darkness hydrangeas float white in their spectral precinct.
Beneath pale hydrangeas the first firefly utters cold burning.
The sun is well down, the first star has now winked.
What was the promise when bullbats dizzied the sunset?
They skimmer and skitter in gold light at great height.
The guns of big boys on the common go boom, past regret.
Boys shout when hit bullbat spins down in that gold light.
«Too little to shoot» - but next year you'll be a big boy.
So shout now and pick up the bird – Why, that's blood, it is wet.
Its eyes are still open, your heart in the throat swells like joy.
What was the promise when, after the last light had died,
Children gravely, down walks, in spring dark, under maples, drew
Trains of shoe boxes, empty, with windows, with candles inside,
Going chuck-chuck, and blowing for crossings, lonely, oo-oo?
But on impulse you fled, and they called, called across the dark lawn,
Long calling your name, who now lay in the darness to hide,
While the sad little trains glimmer on under maples, an on.
What was the promise when, after the dying was done,
All the long years before, like burnt paper, flared into black,
And the house shrunk to silence, the odor of flowers near gone?
Recollection of childhood was natural: cold gust at the back.
What door on the dark flings open, then suddenly bangs?
Yes, something was lost in between, but its long, the way back.
You sleep, but in sleep, hear a door that creacks where it hangs.
Long since, in a cold and coagulate evening, I've stood
Where they slept, the long dead, and the farms and far woods fled away,
And a gray light prevailed and both landscape and heart were subdued.
Then sudden, the ground at my feet was like glass, and I say
What I saw, saw deep down, and the fleshly habiliments rent -
But agleam in a phosphorus of glory, bones bathed, there they lay,
Side by side, Ruth and Robert: the illumination then spent.
Earth was earth, and in earth-dark no glow now, therefore I lifted
My gaze to that world which had once been the heart's familiar,
Swell of woods and far field-sweep, in twilight by stream-gleam now wefted
Railroad yonder and coal chute, town roofs far under the first star.
Then her voice, long forgotten, calm in silence, said: «Child.»
Then his, with the calm of a night field, or far star:
«We died only that every promise might be fulfilled.»
Robert Penn Warren
Kakvo se to obećanje smeškalo s javora u sumrak?
Kakvo se to obećanje smeškalo s javora u sumrak?
Osmeh lak iz senke, škrte? Koji jezik lišće zna?
I kad otac petom po betonu lupa, povratak,
Svestan svakojakog svog opterećenja, pre večernjeg sna.
U taj čas hortenzije lebde, u odblesku spektra neki policajac.
Ispod bledih hortenzija lete svici kao hladna vatra.
Sunce je sad zašlo, jedna zvezda žmirne i nastaje tajac.
Kakvo je to obećanje kad šišmiši poremete smiraj?
Šale se oni i klize po zlatnoj svetlosti velikih visina.
Puške mladića po pravilu prasnu, ne sažaljevaj.
Urlaju dečaci kad pogode miša koji padne i bljesne svetlina.
«Mali si da pucaš» - ali sledeće godine ti ćeš biti velik.
Zato viči sada i pokupi pticu – Zašto, to je krv, a ona je mokra.
Njene su slepe otvorene oči, tebi srce lupa da istopi čelik.
Kakvo je to obećanje kad, pošto poslednja zamre vatra,
Ozbiljna deca, u hodu, u prolećni mrak, pod javorima, crtaju
Kutije cipela kao voziće, što prazni, s oknima, sa svećama unutra,
Idu čihu-hu, i pište da ih čuju, usamljeno, tu-tuu?
Impulsivno pobego si, dok su zvali, zvali preko trvnjaka u mraku,
Dugo dozivajući tvoje ime, koje leži skriveno u tmini,
Dok tužni mali voz ispod javorove grane, daje svetlost jaku.
Kakvo je to obećanje, pošto si s umiranjem prestao,
Još pre mnogo godina, ko hartija što planei i postane prah,
I kuća se svede na muk, kad je miris cveća zamalo nestao?
Sećanje na detinjstvo bilo je prirodno: na leđima hladni dah.
Koja se to vrata turobne zabave otvore, a onda iznenada tresnu?
Da, nešto se u međuvremenu izgubilo, i to je davno, daleko iza nas.
Ti spavaš, ali u snu, čuješ škripu šarki tih vrata kao pesmu.
Davno još, u prohladno očvrslo veče, stajao sam u seni
U kojoj su zaspali oni, odavno mrtvi, s imanja i iz dalekih šuma pobegli,
I sivo je svetlo davalo sjaj i pejzaž i srce behu pokoreni.
Onda odjednom, zemlja pod nogama mojim je kao staklo, i ja kažem ti
Ono što sam video, video duboko dole, i odeća od mesa zakupljena -
Ali blistave u fosforu slave, kosti okupane, tu leže,
Rame uz rame, Radmila i Raša: svetlost potrošena.
Zemlja je bila zemlja, a u crnoj zemlji nema sjaja, zato sam podigao
Svoj pogled ka svetu koji mi je nekad bio drug,
Divota od šuma i dalekih polja, od sumraka i sjaja koji je potok izatkao
Pruga tamo i ugljeni slap, daleki krovovi grada, a iznad njih zvezdani krug.
Onda njen glas, odavno zaboravljen, reče: “Dete”, tiho i smireno.
Onda njegov, sa mirnoćom pašnjaka u noći, ili daleke zvezde:
“Umrli smo samo zato da bi svako obećanje moglo biti ostvareno.”
Robert Pen Voren
(prepevao Nebojša Krstić)