Menna Elfyn

Statement

I think I have made a statement about Wales being a small country. My only other comment on peace is one I heard my father say -- he was a pacifist -- war is never about who is right, only who is left. Not sure who said it but I still think and remember my father...

The Gauze over Gaza explaining was written after the onslaught of 2012 on Gaza-- here are two poems more poems but for some reason I can only find the Arabic of the poem ' Let the People Shout' but if anyone wants to read it -- then great. It was translated for a Book Festival Reading in Cairo some 7 years ago. Also Remembering I have translated of the most wonderful pacifist poet we've ever produced in Wales.

Wales feels passionately for Palestine-- many place-names in Wales are based on those in Palestine. We too have had to struggle for our identity and for a measure of self-government which we now have ( don't always come with a better calibre of politicians though!)

Solidarnosc

Menna

Gauze ar noswyl Nadolig 2012 A Gauze over Gaza

gauze- Ffrangeg 16 ganrif; Gaza , tref ym Mhalesteina a lle i wneud lliain ysgafn;qazz- sidan Arabaidd—hefyd rhwymyn meddygol ar glwyf.

once in a town in Palestine where they made light material, fine silk

and for surgical use

Wedi’r sgathriad

eli cusan i’w wella,

cyn i’r lliain rwyllog

daenu ei gwead ysgafn

yn gotwm sidanaidd,

sy’n anwylo’r croen.

Un gyfrinach wen

yn gudd dan blastar.

Yn blentyn, hawliwn

darian --‘bod yn y wars’,

a’r gwaed mewn gwylnos

yn dyst o’r drin.

Wedi geni’r Iesu

doedd byth sôn

am doriad llinyn

y bogail, a thybiwn

fod y cadachau

a rwymwyd yn ddihalog.

Ond hen yw hanes

a hen yw’r drefn

Yn Gaza, yn Aida,

Yn Azza, ac ym mhob gwersyll-- * enwau rhai o’r gwersylloedd i ffoaduriaid

Yr holl ffordd i Fethlehem,

lle bu tri yno ar ffo,

ysgyrion o leoedd heno,

un bandej o goncrid

am y tir fel twrnicét

-eu dal yn dynn

rhag i waed lifo.

A does dim pwythau

i’w gweld, tu ôl i’r gynnau,

na’r un dyn doeth yn mentro

ei gamel ar hyd y llwybrau

a’r Mur a saif yn ei fudandod

wrth gau allan fforddolion.

Ac ar fryn ni cheir yr un bugail

dim ond praidd ar ddifancoll,

a niwl yn drwch dros ddinas lom

a thawch dros gnawd.

Am fod y dorf sy’n geni a marw

yno, ‘ yn y wars’ yn wastadol.

After the graze,

balm to kiss it better

And then the see -through cloth,

its light weave covering -

silky cotton

caressing the skin.

A white secret

hidden under plaster.

As a child I brandished

my shield—being ‘in the wars’ -

the blood as vigil,

a witness to the fall.

When we spoke of the birth of Jesus

there was never talk

of cutting the umbilical

cord. I believed

that the little one’s swaddling--

bands were pure, immaculate.

But history ages

and the regime is old.

In Gaza, in Aida

in Azza, and in every camp

all the way to Bethlehem

where three are fleeing -

clots of places tonight,

one bandage made of Concrete

a tourniquet over the land,

holding them in-- tight.

Lest the blood spill,

and there isn’t a stitch

in view, to be seen, behind the guns,

not a single wise man venturing out

on his camel over hard country,

past the mute Wall

shutting out wayfarers,

not a single shepherd on the hill

only a flock in disarray, gazers

clapping to the fireworks.

And here there’s thick fog over the city,

smog over skin, gauze-less,

because here is a nation who give birth and die,

still here, still eternally ‘in the wars’.

فلتصرخ كل شعوب العالم

هل لاحظت قط كيف يبدو من لا ينشغل بالوقت

عندما يقبل على لغة جديدة؟

نعم، تتعثر عند السواكن،

وتؤخر المتحركات،

مُثقلاً بكل ما تسلحت به من صبابة

لكي تغزو التعبيرات.

ونعم لسانك يشبه

الرضيع الذي يتعثر فترتطم مؤخرته.

حسن، فليتعلم كل شعب من شعوب العالم

لغة جاره المُبعدة /المطرودة،

نعم ازحف واربض في الأركان،

تأرق (خوفاً) من الخطأ،

بما أن هذه هي الطريقة التي تُخذف بها الأزمنة.

فالماضي لن ينطلق به اللسان.

ولغة اليوم لها الدوام. سوف تُقاضي من أجل السلام،

ونزع كل أفعال الأسلاك الشائكة.

لن يصبح الفعل الناقص تاماً أبداً

إلا عندما ينمحي من الوجود.

أما المفصول والمنشطر والمنقطع فسوف

يتحول إلى كامل تام في الفم الفاغر.

كل دارس جديد ستكون له ذكريات

ما صوّب من التراكيب

"وحمل الفراش"^{^}، وتصحيح الكلام.

لن يتوافر الوقت لنشر الكراهية

بما أن القبائل سوف تغلبها

ما للبنات التأسيس من ثراء –

ومن خلال رضع بابل

سوف يتحرك النير، فتلتأم اللغات المتحدة

بتحرير المرء ذاته، تحرير بغرس البذرة.

Translated by Doaa Embabi

Let the World’s People Shout

Remembering

Waldo Williams

One joyful moment as the sun is setting

A dulcet moment as the night comes on,

To call to mind things which are long forgotten

Now lost and mere dust in days now gone.

Now like the foam that break on lonely beaches,

Or the wind’s song and no-one there to hear,

I know they call, in vain on us to listen,--

The old forgotten things one loved so dear.

Things wrought through clever ways in early ages,

Neat little dwellings and resplendent halls,

And stories tall or short are lost forever,

And gods of old, on whom no advocate calls.

The little words of languages once thriving

Lively their sound back then on lips of folk

And pleasing to the ear of children’s prattle

But no, no tongue will utter, release their yolk.

Oh countless generations of earth’s children

Of heavenly dreams, so fragile yet divine,

Is there only stillness for the hearts that quickened,

That knew wonder, and knew of grief’s aside.

Often when evening falls and I am lonely

I long once more to bring you all to mind,
Pray, is there no-one treasures to behold so dear

The old forgotten things of humankind.

Translated from the Welsh by Menna Elfyn

 الإشارة هنا إلى الشفاء الذي حل بالمريض عندما أطاع أمر السيد المسيح له: "قُم. احمل سريرك وامش" (يوحنا 5:8).

^ Top

« Gabriel Rosenstock | Najet Adouani »

Ποιειν Και Πραττειν - create and do

Navigation

Menna Elfyn