Two Poems

Eryk Ostrowski

The Aleph Review presents two poems in Polish with English translations by Sergiy Kuzin.

Reflections on the Sea by Albert Baertsoen

A Buoy

(Translated from Polish by Sergiy Kuzin)

I was swimming trying to reach it

with my arms spread

on my father’s shoulders

The sun was laying

fleeting shadows

on the bottom

and there were little flounders

and some jellyfish

Then there was

a sudden chill

and darkness,

a smell of salt

and mould

It was a buoy floating,

tied to a rusty chain

which it was knocking against

with every wave

monotonously and mechanically

The thing was covered in seaweed

and no longer scary

So much so that you could even

pet it,

this dog of the Baltic Sea

I’m looking for it today

with my arms spread

It’s cold

and damp

Perhaps in the dark

I’ll hear

the chain’s

dry and rasping clank

Original Polish Version - "Boja"

Płynąłem do niej

z rękami rozprostartymi

na ramionach ojca

Dołem słońce

kładło nad dnem

prędkie cienie

maleńkie stornie

chełbie

Potem nagle

robiło się chłodno

i ciemno

pachniało solą

i stęchlizną

Dryfowała

na pordzewiałym łańcuchu

obijał się o nią

z każdą falą

monotonnie i posłusznie

Splątana wodorostami

nie była już groźna

Dawała się nawet

pogłaskać

Pies Bałtyku

Szukam go dziś

rozprostartymi rękami

Jest chłodno

i wilgotno

Może w ciemności

usłyszę

suchy dźwięk

łańcucha

On Singing Wings (Translated from Polish by Sergiy Kuzin)

You tell me

that I’ll leave you

return to the past

explode

the fragile valley

of our crocuses

into the poppy seeds

of misery

If only you knew

the weight of flowers in bloom, this gift

that thickens

poetry notebooks

the steel of a car window

against which

a nitwit is knocking

their head

without breaking

the glass

the breathing hair

disheveled

not by the wind

and on which people

hang themselves

a scheherazadian tale

of tears

behind which

an undisturbed world goes on

where life and death

are one

No you cannot know that

although you walk the earth

using my feet

Theirs is the knowledge

With the feet that waited their turn

to get their singing wings

you cannot return

to the past

barefoot

Original Polish Version - "Śpiewające skrzydła"

Mówisz

że odejdę

że wrócę w przeszłość

rozbiję

kruchą polanę

naszych krokusów

w drobny mak

nieszczęścia

Gdybyś znał

Ciężar darowanego kwiatu

od którego puchnie

notes do wierszy

stal samochodowej szyby

o którą rozbija się

tępa głowa

ślepo

i nie może przebić

żywe włosy

targane

nie przez wiatr

na których trącają się

wisielcy

baśń

z tysiąca i jednej łzy

za którą trwa

nieporuszony świat

gdzie życie i śmierć

to jedno

Ale nie możesz znać

choć stąpasz po ziemi

moimi stopami

Tylko one wiedzą

stopami które doczekały się

śpiewających skrzydeł

nie wraca się

na bosaka

w przeszłość

---

Eryk Ostrowski is from Kraków, Poland. He has published several poetry collections and three speculative biographies of the Brontës.

Albert Baertsoen (Belgian, 1866–1922) was born into a Ghent working-class family. He was practically self-taught and became one of the most important artists in the Belgian and international art scene of the fin de siècle. He had a blitz career. He was only 22 years old when he won the gold medal at the Antwerp Salon in 1888. Baertsoen became an appreciated painter of landscapes of the Scheldt region, the North Sea and the hinterland, and also portrayed the industrial landscapes of Liège.

Albert Baertsoen’s success extended beyond Belgium’s borders. At the turn of the 20th century, he was one of the most internationally renowned Belgian artists (his work was, for example, exhibited at the Venice Biennale and at the Vienna Secession). He owed his international success to, among other things, his large network, his distinctive voice and his impressionistic style. 

Sergiy Kuzin is a poetry translator and independent publisher based in Ukraine.