Give Shelter by Johannes V. Jensen (1901)

Giv shelteh to too peopew
who of been walkin' real fah
we caym from "this poiwnt fowehd"
on ouwah way to "oveh deyah."
Lettusin!

De geese gow walkin' baehfoots
You cood say we'eh buhds of a fedeh.
Ouweh hous stands out in deh dahkness
in deh same stohmy wehdeh.
Lettusin!

We hav a hows oveh yondeh
an' yoo can beleev itsa manshun.
De walls ah thick wid the howlinest wind
an' deh rooms ah roofed wid rain.
Lettusin!

Sho', you can coun'onit.
you can even ask mah dahwteh.
she ain't got no udeh paren,
and she cant tawk no hee'ah.
Lettusin!

By Johannes V. Jensen (1901)
Translated from the Danish by Kevin O'Donnell, 2009
The original poem uses non-standard spelling to convey an accent from southern Jutland and, furthermore, of an itinerant homeless person. My translation does not try to convey any particular dialect, but a mixture of English language variations. It's just a puzzle that you have to read. Use your vocal chords!

When the seconds . . . (Wenn die Uhren so nah)

When the seconds pass as closely as
within the beating of this very heart
and the things about us plead
in timid voices,
are you there?

Then I am not the one who woke this morning,
with the names the night had given me,
nor am I he of whom I've told the day
in fear and anxiety -

Every door
is open to me still . . .

And then I know that nothing's lost,
no gesture and no prayer
(which would be all too difficult)
but all my childhood has stood,
ever, all around me here.
Never am I alone.
The many who have loved me
and these same many far away
are woven,
woven
into my own - I am.

And I sit down beside you here
and say to you softly - I hurt -
Do you hear?

Then the one who knows who
whispers too.


Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926)
Translated from the German by Kevin O'Donnell (2011)

Your Eyes

Your eyes are the country of lightning and of tears,
of silence that speaks,
of storms without wind and the sea without waves,
caged birds and dreaming brutes,
the cruel collisions of the truth,
autumn in a clearing of the forest where sunlight sings on limbs of trees and birds are all the leaves,
a beach which meets the morning in the fullness of all eyes,
a basket of the fruits of fire
and a nourishing lie,
the mirrors of this world and the doors of more to come,
the pulsing stillness of the sea at noon, an
infinity that blinks,
the highest peak.

Octavio Paz (1900-1970)
Tranlsated from the Spanish by Kevin O'Donnell (2004)

To Begin and to End

Like a pigeon shooting out from the Northeast Corridor
of New Brunswick Station to
the mountains of Colorado,
or the heart's blood circulating
around the brain -
These words go on
anon?