My land of birth is like a continent,
its vast heart eaten down to parchment
by uncomprehending winds
until a palimpsest remains
of once-abundant waterways,
immense plains cicatriced by ridges
marking dinosaur terrain -
a metaphor of primal mind,
where language confronts silence
so profound that breathing
serves as utterance.
My land of birth is like an island
circled by the dolphins' dreaming,
older than religion, with a wisdom
unexplained, where days blaze
with the stupefying brilliance
of asteroids, and nights spin nests
of stultifying darkness under nets of stars.
Islanders experience resistance
to the world beyond, a tension between
greetings and goodbyes, whose specific
gravity remains in equilibrium, despite
the glint of sadness in the island-dwellers' eyes...
Between Island and Continent
© Copyright: Jena Woodhouse, 2003
Свидетельство о публикации №103111000118
Свидетельство о публикации №103111000118
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Jena,
This is the best tribute to the "country of your birth" I have ever read. This should be our national anthem, if it was in a song-like form. And would sing it in a minor, like Israeli of South African anthems, not in a major, like the majority of other ones.
Best regards
Геннадий Казакевич 19.11.2003 07:36 • Заявить о нарушении
This is the best tribute to the "country of your birth" I have ever read. This should be our national anthem, if it was in a song-like form. And would sing it in a minor, like Israeli of South African anthems, not in a major, like the majority of other ones.
Best regards
Геннадий Казакевич 19.11.2003 07:36 • Заявить о нарушении
I could not resist it -
http://www.stihi.ru/2003/11/19-453
Геннадий Казакевич 19.11.2003 09:56 Заявить о нарушении
http://www.stihi.ru/2003/11/19-453
Геннадий Казакевич 19.11.2003 09:56 Заявить о нарушении
Dear Gennadi, it means so much to me that you have understood so well what I was trying to express. And I am simply overwhelmed by your translation, which is as 'true blue' as it is unexpected. It is very, very fine. Thank you! :)))
Jena Woodhouse 19.11.2003 13:03 Заявить о нарушении
Jena Woodhouse 19.11.2003 13:03 Заявить о нарушении