|
Seven poems
translated by Karen Bowden with calligraphy by Aliya Ma
Lynn
Aliya Ma Lynn was born in
DongHai, a sea port of Jingsu, China. Ma Lynn has worked as
broadcaster, news translator, editor and announcer, program and
feature talk producer, and VIP interviewer. She was also TV
anchor for Radio Malaya and TV Malaysia from 1950 to 1970. As a
professor at Nanyang University, Singapore, she served as
lecturer of Chinese Languages and literature. Her writings have
been published in a number of journals.
Some of her important publications are Xin Jiang Province ( The
New Territory) , Huliteratyre, Tia Ying Ma, biography of
author’s father, Perkims, Chinese Tales retold, The Beauty of
Islam through a Woman’s Eye, L’Etranger de Camu and Prose by
Aliya etc.
She has been affiliated to different literary societies also.
Aliya may be called the invisible
reader of Kritya as she reads whatever Karen takes printout for
her. She has sent beautiful translations and calligraphy of
Chinese poems.
Karen Bowden is a writer, editor and desktop publisher,
but has also worked at occupations ranging from forklift driver
to legal secretary. Karen has been associated with a number of
art festivals, and literary journals. She has also performed
poetry, her own, throughout Arizona. Her publications include
poems in What’s a Nice Girl Like You Doing in a Relationship
like this? Anthology published by Crossing Press: The Mac Guffin,
The Valley Guide, Polite Chaos (handset anthology from Smiling
Dog Press) Poet Lore, Haydens Ferry Review, Abby, WIND Magazine,
Gypsy among others.
For Kritya, Karen is not only a
sincere reader but a reliable contributor. She has translated
Chinese poetry with Aliya Ma Lynn for Kritya.
****
 *
***
Flower Not Flower
Flower not flower, mist not mist
Comes by midnight, goes at daybreak
Comes like spring dream, how long to last
Goes like morning clouds, you find it nowhere
Bai Ju `Ii, 772 -846
*****
***
Traveling Feelings
Fine grass leans in the light breeze along the river's shore.
The tall mast stands high above my night sailing boat.
Stars hang low, stretching the vast, flat wilderness.
The moon surges on the mighty river.
My reputation should not hang on my writings.
A successful mandarin retires only when sick or old.
Now I am nowhere, an aimless egret
tangled between heaven and earth.
DuFu,712-770
****
***
Seeing a Friend Off
Blue Mountain crosses the northern wall
and white water winds east of this city,
here, where we part. We, like tumbleweeds
blown ten-thousand miles or drifting clouds
floating toward a future, linger
reluctant as the setting sun,
then we wave and part.
Our horses whinny long.
LiPo, 701-762
****
****
Spring Frustrates Sadness
Solitude again in the courtyard, slant wind and rain,
I must shut all the doors. Delicate willows and early flowers
bloom
during the Cold Food Festival, but the weather, still erratic,
annoys me.
Supporting my now sober head, I compose a well-rhymed poem and
taste another kind of leisure.
The last flying swan has passed; who will deliver my
ten-thousand grievances?
Spring chills the upstairs for days; I keep the drapes closed on
all four sides.
My cold cover, faded incense, and new dream wake me,
and I lean against marble railings.
Even a sad person must get up when dew flows in morning sun
and fermiana branches stretch, inviting all to take a spring
trip.
Once the sun is high and the fog thins, maybe the day will turn
out fine.
LiQingZhao, 1084-1155 River
One thousand mountains
Snowy River
One thousand mountains
not one bird
Ten thousand paths
no human trace
Old man alone in bamboo hat and cape
fishing snow-clad river
Liu Zong Yuan, 773-819
****
****
Spring Morning
Spring sleep knows no dawn
until everywhere you hear birdsong.
After midnight winds and rain drums,
how many the fallen blossoms.
Meng Hao Ran, 689-740
*****
*****
Touring Zhongshan
Every whole daylong
I watched the mountain until it was mine
for the poetry of my old age.
The mountain flowers bloom, fade,
and fall. The mountain torrents flow
noisily away. But the mountain only
sits and watches, at ease with it all.
Wang An Shi, 1021-1086
A note on translation of these poems by Karen Bowden:-ote
on translation of these poems by Karen Bowden:-
Here is part of an article from the Nov 7, 2005, edition of The
New Yorker magazine. Titled "The Translation Wars," written by
David Remnick.
He writes about translators who are a husband and wife team,
American Richard Pevear and Russian-born Larissa Volokhonsky,
and live in Paris. They have produced acclaimed translations of
Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Gogol, and Bulgakov. Their translation of
The Brothers Karamazov won the 1991 PEN/Book-of-the-Month Club
Translation Prize. Their translation of Anna Karenina became a
bestseller after Oprah Winfrey picked it as her 2004 book club's
summer selection. Here is the description of their process from
the
article:
"Their division of labor was -- and remains -- nearly absolute:
First, Larissa wrote out a kind of hyper accurate trot of the
original, complete with interstitial notes about Dostoyevsky's
diction, syntax, and references. Then, Richard, who has never
mastered conversational Russian, wrote a smoother, more English
text, constantly consulting Larissa about the original and the
possibilities that it did and did not allow. They went back and
forth like this several times, including a final session in
which
Richard read his English version aloud while Larissa followed
along in the Russian. Their hope was to be true to Dostoevsky,
right down to his famous penchant for repetition, seeming
sloppiness, and melodrama."
Here is a description of how Aliya and I translate Chinese
poems.
At our first meeting, Aliya arrives with a rough English
translation of the poem and a beautifully written Chinese
character version. Aliya then reads the poem in Chinese, as she
does at every session where we work on the poem. I listen
intently, wanting to catch rhythm and rhyme. I attempt to
translate the poems in the same number of lines as the original,
but doing so is very difficult if one hopes to translate
accurately in terms of heart and meaning. Catching the rhythm
and perhaps rhyme is less difficult, but
not by much. I make the effort because doing so is blissful.
Next, Aliya speaks one or more literal English words for the
Chinese character translation. As appropriate, she talks about
history that is relevant to the poem, including the poet's life.
Then she discusses the characters and what else they can mean,
which depends on many factors. I take notes furiously. I ask
many questions.
At each successive meeting, I bring a draft based on what I
learned at the previous meeting. Aliya makes whatever objections
she has and explains those objections in detail. I come with
many questions, and many arise during our conversation. Aliya
explains idioms and other inner workings of the Chinese poem.
Together, we look for language in English that might carry at
least the feeling these inner workings convey. One goal is to
make a poem that translates well without needing footnotes;
however, that sometimes is not possible if one wants to give the
reader more of the whole experience.
We continue to meet in this way -- critically experiencing the
poem and creating a new draft -- until we believe the
translation is true to its Chinese original and a good poem in
English. What makes a good poem is another discussion; however,
one part of our definition is that a good poem lets the reader
experience what the poet describes.
Some poems, such as "Drinking Alone Under Moonlight," have
required 15 or more meetings before both of us are satisfied.
(We are a couple of greedy girls, enjoying this process perhaps
too much!)
We have translated more than 200 poems and nearly completed a 40
+-page Li Po collection. Once that is done, I will concentrate
more on sending out the translations to publishers like
yourself. Of course, we hope one will pick up our book for
publication. Whether or not this happens, we will continue our
endeavors because we both find doing this deeply engaging and
frequently blissful.
The Six Cantos of Eternal Bliss by Sankara----next page
|
