Birthday Greetings!

[Cenacle]

Hello everyone,

Today is my birthday, but I decided that I wanted to gift all of you a present. I'm developing an anthology of poems by the wonderful Polish poet, Wisława Szymborska, & read the poem below last night. Decided the synchronicity of this poem & my birthday too lovely to pass up. I hope you enjoy, & have a wonderful day!

Peace,
Raymond

* * * * * *

Birthday
by Wisława Szymborska

So much world all at once – how it rustles and bustles!
Moraines and morays and morasses and mussels,
The flame, the flamingo, the flounder, the feather –
How to line them all up, how to put them together?
All the tickets and crickets and creepers and creeks!
The beeches and leeches alone could take weeks.
Chinchillas, gorillas, and sarsaparillas –
Thanks do much, but all this excess of kindness could kill us.
Where’s the jar for this burgeoning burdock, brooks’ babble,
Rooks’ squabble, snakes’ quiggle, abundance, and trouble?
How to plug up the gold mines and pin down the fox,
How to cope with the linx, bobolinks, strptococs!
Tale dioxide: a lightweight, but mighty in deeds:
What about octopodes, what about centipedes?
I could look into prices, but don’t have the nerve:
These are products I just can’t afford, don’t deserve.
Isn’t sunset a little too much for two eyes
That, who knows, may not open to see the sun rise?
I am just passing through, it’s a five-minute stop.
I won’t catch what is distant: what’s too close, I’ll mix up.
While trying to plumb what the void's inner sense is,
I'm bound to pass by all these poppies and pansies.
What a loss when you think how much effort was spent
perfecting this petal, this pistil, this scent
for the one-time appearance, which is all they're allowed,
so aloofly precise and so fragilely proud.

(translated from Polish by Stanislaw Baranczak
and Clare Cavanagh)

* * * * * *

[stilltrucking]

Thank you for the poem gift and
I wish you many happy returns of this day

[Doreen Peri]

Happy Birthday, Raymond.

What a fun poem with rhyming couplets! Interesting that it was originally written in Polish. I wonder if the Polish version also rhymes in couplets. Hmmm.

Anyway, I enjoyed it! I hope you enjoy your birthday!

[mnaz]

Hey Raymond. Happy birthday. No big point or statement here, just well wishes. And this reminds me of something that has always mystified me: how (exactly?) do you translate poetry between languages? That was something hard to wrap my brain around, I guess

[sasha]

What a fun poem with rhyming couplets! Interesting that it was originally written in Polish. I wonder if the Polish version also rhymes in couplets. Hmmm.

There's an episode of Radiolab that addresses that very question....

https://radiolab.org/podcast/translation/transcript

[Cenacle]

Thank you, friends!