Kratka je bila
Kratka je bila
noč,
dan jo je
malo podaljšal.
Translations of this Poem
Short wis...
Translator: Matthew Fitt
Short wis the nicht,
the day has
wrocht it
a bittockie langer.
Short was...
Translator: Milan Jesih
Short was
the night,
the day has
lengthened it a bit.
Lühike...
Translator: Doris Kareva
Lühike
oli öö,
päev pikendas seda
pisut.
Byr fu’r...
Translator: Mererid Puw Davies
Byr fu’r
nos;
estynnodd
y dydd rhyw arlliw arni.
bu ghoirid...
Translator: Rody Gorman
bu ghoirid
an oidhche –
chaidh a cur am faid
leis an là gu ìre
About this poem
‘Voyages & versions / Tursan is Tionndaidhean’ was the title of the translation workshop run by the Scottish Poetry Library and Literature Across Frontiers 12-18 May 2003. The group consisted of Petr Borkovec (Czech Republic), Mererid Puw Davies (Wales), Jakub Ekier (Poland), Matthew Fitt (Scotland), Rody Gorman (Scotland), Milan Jesih (Slovenia), Doris Kareva (Estonia), Esther Kinsky (England) and Aled Llion (Wales). The group spent days at Moniack Mhor writing centre in the Highlands, returned to the Library in Edinburgh and went up to Dundee Contemporary Arts, and gave multi-lingual readings, producing what was, in effect, an hour’s sound-poem. Several of the poets mentioned their sense of renewed faith in poetry – how refreshed they felt by the chance to look closely at their own and others’ work in company with people whose aesthetics might be quite different but whose skills and passion were recognisably similar.
