Friday 4 April 2008

paul celan

Wie du dich ausstirbirst in mir:

noch in letzten
zerschlissenen
Knoten Atems
steckst du mit einem
Splitter
Leben


How you die out in me:

down to the last
worn-out
knot of breath
you’re there, with a
splinter
of life

trans michael hamburger

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

you don't translate the capitals?

Anonymous said...

and i mean 'you' as in like 'in general does one capitalize'

swiss said...

they like the capitals them germans. me, i do not share their enthusiasm.

Anonymous said...

i am extremely enthusiastic about capitals. in german. in the poems where they were put. certainly a translatist would want to capitalize on the success of the original poem?

swiss said...

apparently, and i could run up stairs to my as yet unused german books btu i'm too lazy, all true nouns in german are capitalized. i have no idea if this is true....

Roxana said...

yes, all nouns :-) but there are poets who go against this norm. very beautiful translation.