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| chestnut in spring, so glorious |
This poem is translated from Polish, and has an interesting use of "forebodes" - which in 1664 meant "to announce beforehand"; in 1603, "have a presentiment of" ... "Foreboding: The action of Forebode; hence, a prediction, a presage. Now only of evil."
Chestnut Tree
It's the saddest thing to leave
home on an autumn morning
where nothing forebodes a timely return
The chestnut tree Father planted
in front of the house grows before our eyes
Mother is tiny
you can carry her in your arms
jars stand on the shelf
and the fruit preserves inside them
are like goddesses whose sweet lips
retain the taste
of eternal youth
the army of soldiers in the corner of the drawer
will remain tin till the end of the world
and God almighty who mixed
bitterness into the sweetness
hangs on the wall helpless
and badly painted
Childhood is like the worn-out face
on a gold coin that rings
pure.
Tadeusz Różewicz
translated from the Polish by Joanna Trzeciak
Sobbing Superpower: Selected Poems [this won the 2012 Griffin Poetry Prizer]
Volume 95, Number 4
Copyright © 2011 by Joanna Trzeciak
Other poems (in English) by Różewicz are here.
Interesting - I've just learned a new word: forebode.
ReplyDeleteI found the Polish original (couldn't resist, Polish is my first language) and I'm not quite sure if this foreboding part is exactly the equivalent of Rozewicz's thought, which is more like "nothing portends a quick return".