Monday, June 7, 2010

Tuesday Poem: Dimitrova's "Deserts"




















Deserts

I was born for love--
to give and to receive it.
Yet my life has passed
almost without loving.
So I've learned forgiving:

even the deserts
I have crossed
I feel no scorn for.
I just ask them
with astonished eyes:

What gardens were you born for?

(Translated from the Bulgarian by Heather McHugh)

Tuesday Poem, a community of poets, is based in New Zealand.







8 comments:

  1. Oh Mim - what to say? This is an astounding piece of writing.
    Thank you.

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  2. Ah, it's not my English but Heather McHugh's. She translated Blaga Dimitrova's poem from Bulgarian to English.

    Claire, isn't it just!

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  3. It feels like some of Tsvetayeva's work, this coming to utterance.

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  4. Tsvetayeva's and Akmatova's work for sure, Signs. And why not Sappho, too. The directness!

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  5. I find the persona's perspective very wise. 'Forgiving' is not necessarily the path of least resistance. :)

    Thanks for sharing this. Cheers.

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  6. I'm grateful you stopped by, S.L.

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  7. thank you, mim--another discovery!
    such clean language; each word like a perfectly placed stepping stone.

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  8. Dear Miriam
    Thanks for posting this wonderful poem. Where can I read more poems of Blaga?

    Thanks and Regards
    gigi

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