Wael Al-Mahdi
Is there a bigger monument than the love of fate?
Than love of time? Love of life?
You, who set up pillars of tears and blood
Set up in your site a monument to fate.
Play your ball, with sturdy heart!
Play it hard and full! If the Gods would be entertained, my brothers
We are good actors – let us give them a good show!
Hug the earth crying, crying on the shoulders of your mother
And may the mud of the earth be kohl to your eyes
And may your blackened tears be your warpaint
But beware – keep your feet moored to your mother
You say you love life? Well, then, show me your spear!
And where is your fire? And the golem-killing sword?
Unburden yourself! We take no camels in our number!
And no needles, either. Hero, rattle your spear!
Play your ball, with sturdy heart!
Play it hard and full! If the Gods would be entertained, my brothers
We are good actors – let us give them a good show!
What brightness do you seek? Diamond or glass?
I see you bloodied from the climb. Your head has become a leaden helmet
And your heart, dear sweet heart, is black with soot.
Your feet? Wooden. And your eyes? Glass.
And your sinews are lacy, so lax and lacy
May you repeat with past-agers: We are the sinews of the Gods!
We are tough boulders, rolling down from the eternal Olympus!
I spied the gods watching our Spiel, laughing at our woes.
Play your ball, with sturdy heart!
Play it hard and full! If the Gods would be entertained, my brothers
We are good actors – let us give them a good show!
Do you aspire to fresh blueness?
Fresh, young, childish, powerful –
A fear to swallow up all fear, and an iron heart
A blessed bliss - an abundance of blueness.
Only the man in the balloon can be serene
And regard God’s creation with a cold eye
And why shouldn’t I be quiet in my mountain?
Take your evil eye, for mine is serene!
Play your ball, with sturdy heart!
Play it hard and full! If the Gods would be entertained, my brothers
We are good actors – let us give them a good show!
What do I do with my world, with my platinum?
With my choice? My choice, indeed
To put my actors on my stage
That is creation – I make my own platinum.
Plunge your glass-tipped spear into the cube of blackness
Though I am dark forests, and dark mountain ranges
But I am no enemy of song! Oh the beauty of song
Song is secret – song is sacred – song is blackness.
Play your ball, with sturdy heart!
Play it hard and full! If the Gods would be entertained, my brothers
We are good actors – let us give them a good show!
Like discovering a cache of silver!
A new sibling, a new daughter or son!
The tree of life – its roots are in my heart
My shield, and my mask – are of silver!
Sing with me, and with the Northman!
Climb the highest mount and gaze!
Touch the furthest comet tail – or star?
Create new soul-structures – with the Northman!
Play your ball, with sturdy heart!
Play it hard and full! If the Gods would be entertained, my brothers
We are good actors – let us give them a good show!
And your head garlanded in purple halos!
The pathos, the pathos!
Draw the pattern – meander after meander
Decorate your wolf – in snowy halos!
I have removed my pain
And my lame leg has become a god’s dancing limb!
My limb is no longer limp! And I am no imp!
And now I don’t know my pain.
Play your ball, with sturdy heart!
Play it hard and full! If the Gods would be entertained, my brothers
We are good actors – let us give them a good show!
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mi eble ne estas bona ĵuĝanto de poemoj en la angla, sed ĝi ŝajnas bona.
ĝis renato
ornate language,free-flowing but what is the theme of ur poem? what is ur point? are u fatalistic? like the imageries deployed though. cxu vi pencxis pri traduki via poemo en esperanton? la traduko faros interesa poemo.
Thanks Okungbowa. The theme is an affirmation of life in all its questionable aspects, to use a phrase by Nietzsche. The point is that even though life can be cruel and difficult and confusing, one must rise up to the challenge and live a full life. I am not fatalistic, at least not in the usual pejorative sense. But I do believe fat plays an important part of life, that each individual is a piece of fate, to use another Nietzschean phrase. My reading of Nietzsche has been an inspiration for this poem.
Dankon iukaze pro la komento.
[...] are each called to: “Play your ball with sturdy heart!” † A great measure is how accepting we are of when our complexes get the best of us [...]