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Xehupatl
05-02-2003, 12:22 PM
This is my most favourite poem of all time. I don\'t read a lot of poetry, but this one just blew me away when I saw it in the NZZ (Neue Zürcher Zeitung) a few years ago.
I only know the German version, which is a translation of the Arab original.

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<font color=\"blue\">Das Leben</font>
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Er vertrieb sich ein bisschen die Zeit,
zeichnete eine Vase,
zeichnete in der Vase eine Blume,
und Duft stieg aus dem Papier.
Er zeichnete ein Glas Wasser,
trank einen Schluck
und goss die Blume.
Er zeichnete ein Zimmer,
stellte ins Zimmer ein Bett
und schlief ein.
Und als er erwachte,
zeichnete er ein Meer,
ein tiefes Meer,
und ertrank.

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von Wadi Saadah
aus dem Arabischen von Stefan Weidener

Briela
05-02-2003, 07:05 PM
\"He drove himself out the little time, drew a vase, drew in the vase a flower, and smell rose of the paper. He drew a glass water, drank a sip and poured the flower. He drew a room, placed in the room a bed and fell asleep. And as it awaked, drew it a sea, a deep sea, and drowned.\"

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif I think it loses something in the translation

Xehupatl
05-03-2003, 03:43 AM
Yeah poems lose a lot of their \'linguistic\' beauty when translated.

CJ01
05-05-2003, 07:52 AM
yes, perhaps it´s at its best in arabic /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Xehupatl
05-05-2003, 10:51 AM
yes that\'s very likely; I was stunned at the quality of the german translation (well not that I could check in any way /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif)