On 2014-03-23, Laszlo Lebrun <
lazlo_...@googlemail.com> wrote:
> Hi,
> we will be singing a song on a poem fromJames Agee and I have been
> asked to translate the lyrics:
>
> Sure on this shining night
> Of starmade shadows round,
> Kindness must watch for me
> This side the ground.
> The late year lies down the north
> All is healed, all is health.
> High summer holds the earth.
> Hearts all whole
> Sure on this shining night
> I weep for wonder wand'ring far alone
> Of shadows on the stars.
>
>
> I'd like to understand the meaning.
> Could someone put this into "trivial" expressions?
>
> I did understand the the author had a hard time and found some pace in a
> night walk,
> but it's really hard to translate it keeping the atmosphere...
He's having thoughts about his own mortality ("This side the ground" -
while I am alive, before I die and am buried under the ground).
And about the cycles of nature ("The late year" meaning winter, when in
northern parts of his native USA nature seems to sleep or die - "lies
down the north" - which he seems to associate with sadness; in contrast,
the heat of summer all is well and he feels more cheerful - "Hearts all
whole".)
Reference to the stars at the beginning and end of the poem reflects the
cycles of nature and the completeness and continuity of things; at the
start, the bright stars are casting shadows around him, but at the end,
he feels there are shadows on the stars.
--
-- ^^^^^^^^^^
-- Whiskers
-- ~~~~~~~~~~