Monday, May 26, 2008

Translation: Afrikaans goes English :-)

honour recently expressed an interest in reading a translation of one of my Afrikaans poems. Although I do write in two languages, I have to confess that my heart beats in Afrikaans (my mother tongue), and it is my preferred writing medium. What follows is a translation of my poem "My hart is ‘n see" that I posted on May 3.

My heart is an ocean

My heart is an ocean,
I told you one night.
The waves of emotions
still break on the rocks
and beaches of my mind.

I knew that if you dived into it
you'd have to swim or sink.
But you chose
- fortunately for you -
to go away
- far away.

Away from the waves of my heart;
away from the salt of my waters.

Forever away from the altars of water in my soul.

1 comment:

Roxanne said...

Thank you Tania! I really enjoyed that translation .. I just like hearing how the structure of the words show up in a different language ... I loved that phrase "away from the salt of my waters" .... lovely. Thanks for sharing and I look forward to more poetry (translated or untranslated) ...