Friday, July 28, 2023

Alberto Estima de Oliveira — O Diálogo do Silêncio / The Dialogue of Silence 40

This one was (and still is) very tricky to translate, and as usual with poems like these, I'm not very happy with how it came out. Two things tripped me up: the use of articles in the lines beginning with "a sombra", and those lines in general. The articles here can read as both possessive and directional, which works great in Portuguese but not really in English; and there's a sort of mirroring going on in those lines, where the middle two ("contrastes/da janela") act as the focal point for the two above and below. Maybe I'm misunderstanding that, but that's how I tried to render it. Finally, Estima de Oliveira is doing something by contrasting parts of a window, and I think I get it, but I'm currently incapable of explaining what exactly he's going for.

DAS

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40


mirante: janela exposta

no recorte
dos destroços
a flor
no vaso

...

janela
o pórtico
das estrelas

cortina

pano de boca
do proscénio
interior

a sombra
dos caixilhos
    contrastes
    da janela
as grades
    a penumbra.


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40


viewpoint: exposed window

framed against
the rubble
a flower
in a vase

...

a window
portico
of the stars

drapery

the stage curtain
of the inner
proscenium

the shadow
of the sash
    the window's
    contrasts
the grills
    twilight.
    


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