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Easy to Lose Faith. : languagehat.com

languagehat.com·languagehat·about 1 month ago
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I happened on this translation by Clare Cavanagh and Michał Rusinek of a Miron Białoszewski poem in the NYRB : It’s Easy to Lose Faith A horse and cart went past. I see. I believe in them. They grow dark. The horse and cart went past. But the horse had a horse. The cart had a cart. They led their own selves large from shadows along the acacias. And now it’s hard for me to believe in the horse and cart. Here’s the original Polish: Jak łatwo stracić wiarę Przeszedł koń i fura. Widzę. Wierzę w nich. Ściemnia się. Przeszedł koń i fura. Ale koń miał konia. Fura miała furę. Prowadzili te swoje wielkie z cieni po akacjach I już mi trudno uwierzyć w konia i furę. I like the poem and the translation; what I’m wondering is if Prowadzili te swoje wielkie z cieni necessarily implies they were leading “their own selves” or simply unspecified large things of theirs. I do not know Polish, I just triangulate from other Slavic. Also, doesn’t Ściemnia się mean “It’s getting dark” rather than “They grow dark”?…

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