Tuesday, September 04, 2007

summer's over

- an expected high of 13C (56F) for the next two days makes this pretty clear. *shiver* i have a few days off and will stay indoors reading, watching tennis, and perhaps doing a little prep work and getting my next chapbook ms ready. or almost-ready. *g*

Allegro

Jag spelar Haydn efter en svart dag
och känner en enkel värme i händerna.

Tangenterna vill. Milda hammare slår.
Klangen är grön, livlig och stilla.

Klangen säger att friheten finns
och att någon inte ger kejsaren skatt.

Jag kör ner händerna i mina haydnfickor
och härmar en som ser lugnt på världen.

Jag hissar haydnflaggan - det betyder:
"Vi ger oss inte, men vill fred."

Musiken är ett glashus på sluttningen
där stenarna flyger, stenarna rullar.

Och stenarna rullar tvärs igenom
men varje ruta förblir hel.

* * * * *

After a black day, I play Haydn,
and feel a little warmth in my hands.

The keys are ready. Kind hammers fall.
The sound is spirited, green, and full of silence.

The sound says that freedom exists
and someone pays no taxes to Caesar.

I shove my hands in my haydnpockets
and act like a man who is calm about it all.

I raise my haydnflag. The signal is:
“We do not surrender. But want peace.”

The music is a house of glass standing on a slope;
rocks are flying, rocks are rolling.

The rocks roll straight through the house
but every pane of glass is still whole.


-- Tomas Tranströmer (transl. Robert Bly)

song of the day: she's the one by robbie williams.

2 comments:

Andrew Shields said...

Check out the great bluegrass cover of "She's the One" by the Basel band Handsome Hank and His Lonesome Boys. http://www.handsomehank.com/

A bluegrass band as performance art, really, doing bluegrass covers of pop songs from Hendrix to Williams, while in character as old-time bluegrass musicians (completely with white cowboy hats and bolo ties). Brilliant.

michi said...

thanks for the link, andrew - sounds really good. and i see they collaborated with german stefan remmler and 2raumwohnung, a band i quite like. :)

m