Halfdan Rasmussen - Homeward (Danish-English translation)

Homeward
Going home towards the gray.
Towards the sky that's looking for the earth.
Towards cold roads
that lead into the lowly sun.
Twilight's black trees.
Fields that soar
upon bird wings. And the sea
where gulls squeal.
Going home towards a deep green stillness
where the rain sings
and the garden blackbird swings
among wet branches.
Going home towards the land
where you are never completely alone.
Towards the land that followed you
wherever you went.
The roaring breaking waves of corn.
Green music.
Going home from the painful beauty
you dazzled beheld.
Back to everyday beauty.
Going home towards the gray.

ORIGINAL TEXT
Hjemad
Hjem til det grå.
Til himlen der søger jorden.
Ad kølige veje
ind i den lave sol.
Skumringens sorte træer.
Marker der stiger
på fuglevinger. Og havet
hvor mågerne skriger.
Hjem til en dyb grøn stilhed
hvor regnen synger
og havens solsort gynger
på våde grene.
Hjem til det land
hvor du aldrig er helt alene.
Til landet som fulgte dig
hvorhen du gik.
Kornets brusende brænding.
Grøn musik.
Hjem fra det smærteligt skønne
du blændet så.
Tilbage til hverdagens skønhed.
Hjem til det grå.

Olivia Nordenhof - Blog entry from April 15th 2015 (Danish-English Translation)

incidentally, I opened the window today and
thought: here comes summer as from a
mouth, and thought: why did I think that,
what's that supposed to mean, and realized
how the one, whose sickness made extremely
weak, at the entrance of a loved one
into the room opens his mouth without saying anything, 
and she, who has entered into the room and
loves the sick one, thinks: I love
you I love you and there's nothing I can do,
and she looks at the open mouth and she also sees
it closing slowly once again, and it
is really as if summer was coming


ORIGINAL TEXT (http://jegheddermitnavnmedversaler.blogspot.com/)
forøvrigt, jeg åbnede vinduet idag og 
tænkte: så kom sommeren som fra en 
mund, og tænkte: hvorfor tænkte jeg det, 
hvad skal det betyde, og kom så i tanke 
om hvordan den, der er meget svag af 
sygdom, ved en elskets indtræden i 
rummet åbner munden uden at sige noget, 
og hende, der er trådt ind i rummet og 
elsker den syge, hun tænker: jeg elsker 
dig jeg elsker dig og der intet jeg kan gøre, 
og hun ser på den åbne mund og hun ser 
den også lukke sig langsomt igen, og det 
er altså sådan sommeren kommer  

Jónas Hallgrímsson - Andvökusálmur (Icelandic to English translation)

This is the poem I talked about in my last translation. It is a poem dealing with skammdegispunglyndi, or "depression caused by the midwinter days", a typically Icelandic phenomenon. This Icelandic form of depression is characterized by fear of darkness and longing for light, feelings that haunted Hallgrímsson constantly during the last years of his life.

In accordance with the traditions of Icelandic folklore, Hallgrímsson represented his insomnia, his recurrent and oppressive thoughts, fears and fantasies as demonic spirits hostile to human beings. This tradition is depicted most clearly in Grettis saga Ásmundarsonar, the Saga of Grettir the Strong, in which Grettir himself suffers from this condition: "Grettir said that his temper had not improved, that he had even less discretion than before, and was more impatient of being crossed. In one thing a great change had come over him; he had become so frightened of the dark that he dared not go anywhere alone at night. Apparitions of every kind came before him. It has since passed into an expression, and men speak of "Glam's eyes" or "Glam visions" when things appear otherwise than as they are." (Saga of Grettir the Strong, chapter 35)

For more information about Hallgrímsson and this poem in particular, the book Bard of Iceland: Jónas Hallgrímsson, Poet and Scientist by Dick Ringler can be consulted. He offers there his own non-literal translation of the poem.

Psalm of Insomnia

Cursed be, wicked wakefulness!
Be enjoyed by those who may.
You have lived with me,
given me many woeful dark hours
of distress and pining,
slaughtered my vitality and strength.
Few there is to help those
who are preyed on by the night.

Darkness is the devil of man,
laming both life and soul,
forever dim and forever silent -
just like the embers of hell
it is full of scoff and deception.
I know that this evil spirit
hardly ever sails upon this country
the days before the summer. (1)

Come, precious daylight!
Drive away the darkness;
come, lively Eye of the World! (2)
be yourself the holy witness,
that always does good, -
help me clear my mind and understanding
by guiding me, your creature;
I cannot suffer this slumber anymore.

Sunlight has greeted at my window; (3)
a good friend has come
to console the heart of the waking man;
I shook off the night away from me,
repaired my spirit, then went out.
Never should this be suspected:
the pitiful mask of the shadows
is carried away by the light.

NOTES:
(1) sumarmál, the last five days before summer.
(2) heimsaugað, oculus mundi, the eye of the world (http://lexis.hi.is/cgi-bin/ritmal/leitord.cgi?adg=daemi&n=183728&s=226860&l=heimsauga&r=p). It may be a reference to the Glámur augu that haunt Grettir the Strong in his Saga.
(3) Guðað er nú á glugga, "God's peace has been said at the window". Guða á glugga is a verb that refers to an old greeting used by travelers ("Hér sé Guð", "here is God") when they wanted to attract the attention of farmers by knocking at their windows. During the night, it was used as a way of asking for shelter.

ORIGINAL TEXT

Andvökusálmur

• Svei þér, andvakan arga!
• uni þér hvur sem má.
• Þú hefir mæðumarga
• myrkurstund oss í hjá
• búið með böl og þrá,
• fjöri og kjark að farga.
• Fátt verður þeim til bjarga
• sem nóttin níðist á.
•  
• Myrkrið er manna fjandi,
• meiðir það líf og sál,
• sídimmt og síþegjandi,
• svo sem helvítisbál
• gjörfullt með gys og tál.
• Veit ég að vondur andi
• varla í þessu landi
• sveimar um sumarmál.
•  
• Komdu, dagsljósið dýra,
• dimmuna hrektu brott;
• komdu, heimsaugað hýra,
• helgan sýndu þess vott
• að ætíð gjörir gott,
• skilninginn minn að skýra,
• skepnunni þinni stýra;
• ég þoli ekki þetta dott.
•  
• Guðað er nú á glugga,
• góðvinur kominn er
• vökumanns hug að hugga;
• hristi ég nótt af mér,
• uni því eftir fer;
• aldrei þarf það að ugga,
• aumlegan grímuskugga
• ljósið í burtu ber.

Tómas Guðmundsson - Svefnlaus nótt (Icelandic to English translation)

In this poem, the author, being a huge admirer of the work of Jónas Hallgrímsson (one of the greatest Icelandic poets, author of  a poem called Andvökusálmur, Hymn to Insomnia), depicts one of the many topics that haunted Hallgrímsson during his battles with depression, skammdegispunglyndi, or "middle winter depression", a specifically Icelandic phenomenon. I will translate Hallgrímsson's poem later on, although it's been already translated in this book, p. 233: https://books.google.com.mx/books?id=B04_pgi-HTcC

Sleepless night

Like in the autumn when I was seventeen
and the sky was in reach and the street seemed endless
dark and light weren't at all antithetical
rather than beginning and end
so is now midday at middnight
and dreams come without notice
life has no affiliation with the dead
for the future is light and dark
faces are no longer indistinguishable and the woman with the scar
has become a girl again
the bar has opened again and there can only
members enter
be then my travel companion
to the homeland again you who were and always will be
and not be
then let's wake up
from sleepless nights

ORIGINAL TEXT

Einsog um haustið þegar ég varð sautján
og himininn var í seilingarfjarlægð og gatan virtist endalaus
myrkur og ljós voru ekki andstæður
frekar en byrjun og endir
þannig er nú hádagur um miðja nótt
og draumar koma án fyrirvara
lífið er ekki í neinum tengslum við dauða
því framundan er ljós og myrkur
andlitin eru ekki lengur sviplaus og konan með klettabeltið
er orðin að stúlku á ný
barinn hefur opnað aftur og þangað inn fá aðeins
meðlimir að koma
vertu mér svo samferða
til heimalandsins á ný þú sem varst og verður til
og ekki til
síðan vöknum við
af svefnlausum nóttum

Yu Guangzhong - The Next Meeting (Mandarin Chinese to English Translation)

I am no Chinese speaker: I can only read a little Chinese. Thus, this translation shouldn't be considered reliable at all.

This is a very beautiful love poem that should be read using a couple of Mahayana Buddhist googles: it is a cosmical depiction of love, represented both as the romantic love between two old lovers (one of which, the poetic voice, is on his deathbed) and as the universal love of the Boddhisatva. Without those googles, the poem might seem somewhat exaggerated.

The author is Yu Guangzhong, one of the best Taiwanese poets. Most of his work depicts his longing and love for continental China (at least for its territory, not for its government). He is also an extraordinary polyglot.


The Next Meeting
Yu Guangzhong (1)


As they were about to part company, she once again implored the priest to pass along a message for her, the message contained a promise that only the two of them would know about. -  Bai Juyi, Song of Everlasting Regret, 3.1.71 (2)

When I die, your name, like the last petal of a flower,
will gently fall upon my lips. Your fingers
are a string of keys, tinkling like jewels,
held in my hand. Which doors
would you let me open, let me open wide?

To hold your hand and die is a thing of fortune, 
to hear you say you still love me, to hear you say
the phoenix after death is still the phoenix,
spring after death is still spring (3), yet at least
there was one May which was ever ours.

Every gray hair is still trembling for you, every one still shivering deeply.
Remember all the old times, remember:
you stepped on the place where a red lotus blossomed,
you stood on the place where a narcissus sprouted,  (4)
you stood in the wind, your skirt danced lightly, your hair danced lightly. (5)

Put your ear on my chest, 
listen to what my heart says. It is tired, so tired,
it has already exceeded its age by pondering, pondering so much,
it pounds so strongly, pounds ever so strongly, 
love is too heavy for it, love.

One extreme of love is here, the other end
is in the beginning.
Our first meeting was at Lantian (6),
before that one, on the shore of the Luo River (7),
at the origin of history, in the blue sea, in a misty nebula (8) -
on the memory outside of memory, the other end of love.

Our next meeting, where will it be, where will it be?
You tell me, you tell me, I will listen to you.
(do you believe in reincarnation, do you believe?)
The black sleeve of death obstructs my senses, I can't see clearly - oh!
I can hear now: I must go.


NOTES:
(1) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yu_Guangzhong
(2) https://en.wikisource.org/?curid=65855%7C
(3) The universe will continue being the universe even after the dead of individual beings. The wheel of Samsara continues to spin. And yet, this particular reincarnation of both lovers can call one moment theirs. Eternity is not homogeneous, and individual existences have their own value. This value, it also seems is not predetermined: it is a thing of fortune, of luck (represented by the narcissus flower).
(4) The red lotus (sanskrit: kamala, scientific: mallotus phillipensis) represents the original nature and purity of the heart and is associated with love, compassion (and passion) of Avalokiteshvara, or Guanyin in Chinese. The narcissus flower is associated with luck and fortune. 
(5) Red Lotus, Narcissus and the Wind: perhaps it is too far-fetched an interpretation, but I read this as a cosmical representation of hell, earth (purified in the Buddhas) and heaven.
(6) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lantian_County . Apart from Yu's typical nostalgia for the mainland, the symbolism of Lantian is lost on me.
(7) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luo_River_(Shaanxi). Same as Lantian.
(8) "Misty" (ài ài, 叆叆) is a pun on "love" (ài, 爱). The cosmical love located at the origin of the universe is one of the "extremes" or "ends" of a long thread of love, whose other "end" is located right there where the two lovers are.

ORIGINAL TEXT

下次的约会

　　——临别殷勤重寄词，词中有誓两心知

当我死时，你的名字，如最后一瓣花
自我的唇上飘落。你的手指
是一串串钥匙，玲玲珑珑
握在我手中，让我开启
让我豁然开启，哪一扇门？
　
握你的手而死是幸运的
听你说，你仍爱我，听你说
凤凰死后还有凤凰
春天死后还有春天，但至少
有一个五月曾属于我们
　
每一根白发仍为你颤抖，每一根潇骚
都记得旧时候，记得
你踩过的地方绽几朵红莲
你立的地方喷一株水仙
你立在风中，裙也翩翩，发也翩翩
　
覆你的耳朵于我的胸膛
听我的心说，它倦了，倦了
它已经逾龄，为甄甄啊甄甄
它跳得太强烈，跳得太频
爱情给它太重的负荷，爱情
　
爱情的一端在此，另一端
在原始
上次约会在蓝田
再上次，在洛水之滨
在洪荒，在沧海，在星云的叆叆
在记忆啊记忆之外，另一端爱情
　
下次的约会在何处，在何处？
你说呢，你说，我依你
（你可相信轮回，你可相信？）
死亡的黑袖挡住，我看不清楚，可是
嗯，我听见了，我一定去

Karin Boye - Du ska tacka (Traducción del sueco al español)

Deberás agradecer

Deberás agradecer a tus dioses
si te obligan a ir
a donde no tengas vestigios
en los cuales confiar.

Deberás agradecer a tus dioses
si ellos hacen tuyas todas las penas.
Podrás buscar refugio
cada vez más adentro.

Aquello que todo el mundo juzga
encuentra a veces su camino.
Parias fueron muchos
que ganaron su propia alma.

Aquel exiliado al bosque salvaje
con nueva mirada puede verlo todo,
y puede probar agradecido
el pan y la sal de la vida.

Deberás agradecer a tus dioses
cuando destruyan tu cascarón.
La realidad y el núcleo de la vida
serán tu única opción.

TEXTO ORIGINAL

Du ska tacka

Du ska tacka dina gudar,
om de tvingar dig att gå
där du inga fotspår
har att lita på.

Du ska tacka dina gudar,
om de gör all skam till din.
Du får söka tillflykt
lite längre in.

Det som hela världen dömer
reder sig ibland rätt väl.
Fågelfri var mången,
vann sin egen själ.

Den som tvingas ut i vildskog
ser med nyfödd syn på allt,
och han smakar tacksam
livets bröd och salt.

Du ska tacka dina gudar,
när de bryter bort ditt skal.
Verklighet och kärna
blir ditt enda val.