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Poetry Readings: Variacija nubudimo tema

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Poetry Readings: In the Fire
Tomas Venclova Poet
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Something more? Aha, this is a short poem also with a refrain.

 

in the fire in the fire in the fire in the fire in the fire

where space pulls over to the side and yields to time

cross out my soul make the not me in me expire

that the exalted nothing tasting peace may become

a spark a speck a line and a breach in the fire

 

in water in water in water in water in water

beneath the cupola filled with echo and ice

today you protect me and hand me out to others

may I not return home don’t see me don’t break my disguise

where eight bridges sway in the piercing cold in the water

 

underground underground  underground underground underground

where the stone falls apart and the soundless stream stays together

where the winter matures and no colour in green can be found

the body retreats into ash and ash into never

and from never to never the void flows under the ground

 

in the dark in the dark in the dark in the dark in the dark

our matter becomes dispersed and our air grows slack

all things are ready for death when the syllable sparks

and pressed into fictional paper the letters grow black

in the darkness here in this blindness here in this dark

 

The English language translation of this poem has been published by permission © Bloodaxe Books (www.bloodaxebooks.com).

Dar ką nors. Aha, čia toks trumpas eilėraštis irgi su pakartojimais.

 

ugnyje ugnyje ugnyje ugnyje ugnyje

kur erdvė pasitraukia į šalį ir lenkiasi laikui

mano sielą išbrauk sunaikink ne mane manyje

kad išaukštintas niekas patyręs nežemišką taiką

būtų žiežirba krislas brūkšnys ir spraga ugnyje

 

vandeny vandeny vandeny vandeny vandeny

po imperijos kupolu sklidinu šalčio ir aido

tu šiandieną mane dar gini ir kitiems dalini

tenegrįšiu namo nepažink neregėk mano veido

kur aštuonetas tiltų siūbuoja žvarbiam vandeny

 

po žeme po žeme po žeme po žeme po žeme

kur suyra akmuo ir begarsis upokšnis išlieka

kur subręsta žiema ir netenka spalvos žaluma

kūnas traukias į peleną pelenas traukias į niekad

ir iš niekad į niekad srovena ertmė po žeme

 

tamsumoj tamsumoj tamsumoj tamsumoj tamsumoj

mūsų oras retėja ir mūsų materija sklaidos

viskas parengta mirčiai kada prasiskleidžia skiemuo

ir juoduoja įspaustos į nesantį popierių raidės

štai šitoj tamsumoj štai šitoj aklumoj

Born in 1937, Tomas Venclova is a Lithuanian scholar, poet, author and translator of literature. He was educated at Vilnius University and later at Tartu University. As an active participant in the dissident movement he was deprived of Soviet citizenship in 1977 and had to emigrate. Between 1977 and 1980 he lectured at University of California, Berkeley, where he became friends with the Polish poet Czesław Miłosz, who was a professor of Slavic Languages and Literature at the school, as well as the Russian poet Joseph Brodsky. He is currently a full professor at Yale University.

Listeners: Andrzej Wolski

Film director and documentary maker, Andrzej Wolski has made around 40 films since 1982 for French television, the BBC, TVP and other TV networks. He specializes in portraits and in historical films. Films that he has directed or written the screenplay for include Kultura, which he co-directed with Agnieszka Holland, and KOR which presents the history of the Worker’s Defence Committee as told by its members. Andrzej Wolski has received many awards for his work, including the UNESCO Grand Prix at the Festival du Film d’Art.

Tags: In the Fire

Duration: 1 minute, 39 seconds

Date story recorded: May/June 2011

Date story went live: 20 March 2012