Herinnering
As kind het ’k
eens die maan se ronde skyf
langsaam sien
uitswel bo die silwer vlei
om saggies soos
’n seepbel weg te dryf
en tussen yl
popliere in te gly.
Agter my in die
donker was ’n raam
vol lig en
mensestemme en gelag
en ín my angs
en weekheid sonder naam
terwyl ek op
die maan se loskom wag.
Die res is
alles duister en verward…
Van tak tot tak
het hy gewieg… ek weet
nog net dat die
gekneusde gras se geur
soos naeltjies
was en dat ek skielik seer-
gekry het van
die inkrimp van my hart
en met my pols
die trane weggevee’t.
Memory
The
moon’s round disc I as a child once saw
slowly dilate
above the silver vlei
then gently drift
off bubble-like before
it slid midst
thread-thin poplars by and by.
Behind me in
the dark a window pane
was full of
light and voices loud and gay,
in me was fear
and faintness without name
while watching for the moon to break away.
The rest’s
obscure, confused now for my part...
It swayed from
branch to branch... I just persist
in sensing still
the scent of new-bruised grass
was needle-sharp and too my sudden gasp
of pain at the
contraction of my heart
and how I wiped
the tears off with my wrist.
The Afrikaans word 'naeltjies' means small nails or needles, but is also the term for clove nails. So the question here is whether the frightening and threatening nature of the experience of this rising moon, the 'fear and faintness' means that the scent of the crushed grass causes an unpleasant or sharp pricking sensation in the nostrils, or whether the grass actually has a scent of cloves. Since I know too little about both Afrikaans and nature in South Africa, I have asked a native-speaker for an opinion on this.
ReplyDeleteI'd love to hear what the poem sounds like in Afrikaans. Can anyone help me?
ReplyDelete