deepundergroundpoetry.com
You Don’t Have to Understand Life
You don’t have to understand life,
then it becomes a celebration.
And let each day for you arrive,
like blossoms blown towards a child
from every whiff of wind while walking on.
To gather them, collect and save
would never cross the youngster’s mind.
But from the tangled curls of hair
wherein the flowers would be kept ensnared
those two young hands release and bare
the lovely tender years towards new finds.
(Rainer Maria Rilke, first published in 1899, translation © Veronika Bond, 2023)
then it becomes a celebration.
And let each day for you arrive,
like blossoms blown towards a child
from every whiff of wind while walking on.
To gather them, collect and save
would never cross the youngster’s mind.
But from the tangled curls of hair
wherein the flowers would be kept ensnared
those two young hands release and bare
the lovely tender years towards new finds.
(Rainer Maria Rilke, first published in 1899, translation © Veronika Bond, 2023)
Published 17th Oct 2023
Author's Note
This poem was written by Rainer Maria Rilke in 1898. Rilke wrote this poem in German :: original title :: »Du musst das Leben nicht verstehen«.
Most online sources claim that he was an 'Austrian' or 'German-Austrian' poet, which is misleading. Rilke was born in 1875 in Prag, the capital of the Kingdom of Bohemia at the time which became the Republic of Czechoslovakia in 1918.
In 1897 Rilke met his first love, Lou Andreas-Salomé, a psychotherapist and prolific writer.
His poem :: Du musst das Leben nicht verstehen :: reflects a rare blissful state of mind of that period.
Most online sources claim that he was an 'Austrian' or 'German-Austrian' poet, which is misleading. Rilke was born in 1875 in Prag, the capital of the Kingdom of Bohemia at the time which became the Republic of Czechoslovakia in 1918.
In 1897 Rilke met his first love, Lou Andreas-Salomé, a psychotherapist and prolific writer.
His poem :: Du musst das Leben nicht verstehen :: reflects a rare blissful state of mind of that period.
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Commenting Preference:
The author encourages honest critique.
17th Oct 2023 2:07pm
Amazing to do the translation with an element of rhyme, and eloquent scansion too. 💜
18th Oct 2023 6:13pm
thank you. It's actually not too difficult. Just takes more time. But that's ok because it's great fun (especially if you get a satisfactory result)
Needless to say, it helps a lot if your way of thinking resonates with the poet of the original poem.
Needless to say, it helps a lot if your way of thinking resonates with the poet of the original poem.
I found an article by translator May Huang yesterday where she compares literary translation with solving a crossword puzzle.
"literary translation and crossword construction share many qualities. Both are puzzles with particular rules and constraints: translators move the meaning and culture of a text from one language into another, and cruciverbalists populate grids with words that translate into a set of clues," Huang explains.
Her reflections may be of interest for any poet too, not just translators of poetry. Here's the link:
https://electricliterature.com/literary-translations-and-crossword-puzzles-are-more-similar-than-you-think/
"literary translation and crossword construction share many qualities. Both are puzzles with particular rules and constraints: translators move the meaning and culture of a text from one language into another, and cruciverbalists populate grids with words that translate into a set of clues," Huang explains.
Her reflections may be of interest for any poet too, not just translators of poetry. Here's the link:
https://electricliterature.com/literary-translations-and-crossword-puzzles-are-more-similar-than-you-think/
